Though the debate over race-day Lasix use in the United States has been raging for years now, it is not likely to quiet down soon, as multiple racetrack authorities have begun pushing to push administration back to 24 hours pre-race in this year's 2-year-old races. For many, it's difficult to contemplate a world where every horse doesn't have an L next to their name in the program – but there is one place in North America where that was already happening prior to a rule change.
Century Mile Racetrack in Nisku, Alberta opened in April 2019 as a replacement for Northlands Park and is now host of the Grade 3 Canadian Derby. The current meet runs primarily Friday and Sunday nights through early November.
This year, Century Mile will not permit race-day Lasix in 2-year-old races, like many places in the States, but it won't card its first race for 2-year-old Thoroughbreds until later this month. Still, the season's first five days of racing saw just 65.3 percent of its runners use Lasix. Last Friday's card saw 16 of 59 runners (27 percent) start without Lasix, and last Sunday's card had 22 of 64 runners without it (34 percent).
Rob MacLennan, racing secretary at Century Mile, said he expects there may be a few more horses on raceday Lasix as the condition book moves more into 3-year-old maiden races, but generally, those percentages are pretty typical.
“I think some of it has to do with the fact Alberta was the last jurisdiction in Canada to phase in Lasix in the early 1990s,” he said. “There's some holdovers who still don't rush to put every horse on it right away. I also think that because the B circuit in Alberta (Grande Prairie and Lethbridge) does not have a Lasix program, there are horses who have proven they don't need it, or horsemen who are a little more used to doing without it because they may have started careers on the B circuit.”
Tim Rycroft, top trainer at Century Mile in 2019 and vice-president trainer/director for the HBPA of Alberta, said he doesn't have a problem using the drug, but is judicious about using it only when a horse has struggled with performance and scopes show there is a significant issue. Rycroft said his mentality may not be universal on the backstretch, but he's not the only one who will use the drug with some horses and not others.
For one thing, he thinks cleaner air around Century Mile probably reduces the need in some cases.
“I think the air's a little cleaner and we have a few less breathing issues than Woodbine,” he said. “I could be totally wrong, but I know we get lots of horses out of Toronto that were notorious bleeders in Toronto and they didn't bleed here working in the morning. Lots of guys treat their horses for morning workouts, because you sure don't want them bleeding – that sets them back about six weeks – and then they'll come here and not bleed. So I think it's got to have a little to do with air quality.”
Because it's up to the trainer (rather than the racing secretary) whether to have raceday Lasix on board, horses starting without it are usually facing at least one other rival running with it. On last Friday's card, three of 21 non-Lasix runners hit the board, one of them winning the race as the only non-Lasix starter. On Saturday, seven of 27 non-Lasix starters hit the board, including three winners on the eight-race card. Those three winners came in races where the majority of runners were running without Lasix.
Rycroft said he isn't too worried about sending a horse into the gates, knowing some of his competitors have used Lasix.
“I just like to keep them as clean as possible because then you know where you're at,” he said. “If the horse doesn't perform properly and you scope and you notice there's a little something going on, then you can go to Lasix, but if you start piling one medication on top of another, what's actually working and what's not?
“I'm not against Lasix; I'm really not either way on it. I don't like to see a horse bleed. If they need Lasix, they need Lasix. You'll see a lot of guys here start without it and if they need to go to it, they go to it. I don't put a lot of my young horses on it the first couple starts – if they don't need it, they don't need it.”
MacLennan said it's hard for him to be sure of how any horses running without the drug experience some degree of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), since the track doesn't keep statistics on scope results done by private veterinarians. It does make note of horses who suffer such serious bleeding that they experience epistaxis, or visible bleeding from the nostrils. Those horses go on the veterinarian's list for 14 days, and repeat offenders may be barred.
According to MacLennan, there were five horses placed on the veterinarian's list for bleeding last year at Century Mile – four of whom were already on Lasix, all of whom were first-timers on the veterinarian's list for bleeding. Alberta's B level tracks, which do not permit Lasix, saw a total of 16 horses on the veterinarian's list last year, including one repeat offender who was barred from racing for a year. Total race cards in Alberta last year were 219.
None of this means Rycroft wants to see new rules eliminating all Lasix use, however.
“I think there are some people that are too hard on horsemen, saying Lasix should be banned,” he said. “I don't think it should be banned. I think it's a good tool, used properly in the right circumstances.
“They give these guys their trainer's license because they're supposed to know what they're doing as far as health and welfare of their horses, right? So leave them alone and let them do their thing, and hopefully at the end of the day good judgement prevails.”
The post North Of The Border, Lasix Viewed As Useful Tool, But Not Essential For All At Century Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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