Trainer Tim Martin told Horse Racing Nation this week that the bleeding episode suffered by 2-year-old Tyler's Tribe in the Breeders' Cup was the gelding's first instance of EIPH, or exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint was also the first start Tyler's Tribe made without Lasix; the World Championships ban race-day medications. The diuretic is allowed at the Tyler's Tribe's home track, Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Ia., as well as the race-day use of the NSAID bute. At Prairie Meadows, Tyler's Tribe was undefeated through five starts by a combined 59 3/4 lengths.
At Keeneland, jockey Kylee Jordan made the lead out of the starting gate, but quickly noticed something wasn't right with Tyler's Tribe and eased the gelding under the wire behind the rest of the field. He was vanned off the course.
“What are we doing? Do we care about the horse?” Martin told HRN. “I just don't understand it. If the horse needs Lasix, why not give him Lasix?
“We're supposed to be protecting the horse. We're protecting nothing. Lasix ain't hurt nothing. It just helps the horse.”
Tyler's Tribe offered one of the most moving stories of Breeders' Cup week: co-owner Tom Lepic named Tyler's Tribe after his 8-year-old grandson Tyler Juhl, who was diagnosed with leukemia and treated for over two years at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.
Lepic purchased Tyler's Tribe for $34,000 as a yearling in the fall of 2021 from the ITBOA Fall Mixed Sale. He named the son of Sharp Azteca after his grandson in an effort to boost the young man's spirits. Tyler Juhl is now cancer-free.
After the bleeding episode in the Breeders' Cup, Tyler's Tribe was sent to a training center in Arkansas for a break.
Martin believes Tyler's Tribe could successfully stretch out in distance in 2023 (the gelding has yet to race beyond six furlongs). The trainer plans to point Tyler's Tribe toward the Road to the Kentucky Derby, with a first stop planned for the one-mile Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 1.
The 2021 Kentucky Derby marked the first year the Run for the Roses was contested without the permitted use of furosemide (often referred to by the brand name, Lasix). Points will only be awarded to horses who compete on race day without Lasix in Road to the Kentucky Derby races; any points earned by horses with Lasix on race day will be vacated.
According to Oaklawn's condition book, “pursuant to Arkansas Racing Commission Rule 1232(5), the use of furosemide is prohibited in any horses participating in races that award points toward eligibility in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.”
Read more at Horse Racing Nation.
The post ‘We’re Supposed To Be Protecting The Horse’: Tyler’s Tribe Trainer Bemoans Lack Of Lasix, Targets Kentucky Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
