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Kentucky Commission: Hidden Scroll Was State’s First Epistaxis Case Since 24-Hour Lasix Ban

Hidden Scroll, who pulled up after crossing the wire seventh in Saturday's Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes, is the first case of epistaxis from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) in Kentucky since the state implemented new furosemide administration rules in 2020. The Brad Cox trainee went off at odds of 2-1 for his first start without the race day medication, which is commonly known by its trade name of Lasix or Salix.

Kentucky began a partial phaseout of race day furosemide last year, beginning with 2-year-old races and expanding to include stakes races this year. The drug may now be given no closer than 24 hours before post time in those contests.

Dr. Bruce Howard, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, confirmed that Hidden Scroll's case of epistaxis (visible bleeding from the nostrils) due to EIPH was the first on record since the new rules were implemented. EIPH can occur without visible bleeding from the nostrils and is often detectable only on endoscopic examination; more severe incidents may result in epistaxis.

A frustrated Joe Orseno, who trains multiple graded stakes winner Imprimis, told media immediately after the horse's runner-up effort in the G2 Shakertown that he believed his horse also suffered from epistaxis due to EIPH. Orseno said he could see blood on the horse's nose at the finish, where he was just edged by Bound for Nowhere.

“You're not allowed to run on Lasix anymore,” said Orseno. “They're taking the best horses in the country and they're penalizing them. My horse bled today, visibly. Blood coming out of his nose. How is that good for the public's perception of Lasix? Somebody needs to answer that question. It's not fair to take a horse like this and make 'em bleed. It's just not fair. I wish you'd print every word of that, because it's total bullshit.

“My horse didn't have to bleed. Let him run on Lasix … I care about my horse and his physical condition.”

Orseno pointed out that a bleeding event from EIPH can knock a horse off its training schedule.

“I was supposed to run him in two months, now it's going to be four,” he said. “So I've got to tell the owners, forget the Jaipur, now maybe Saratoga, maybe not, because who knows. I don't know. You never know the damage it does to horses.”

The full interview, courtesy of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association's Jennie Rees, is available here, following comments from Bound for Nowhere trainer Wesley Ward:

Howard said that besides Hidden Scroll, there was one other incident on Saturday's card related to blood on a horse's nose, but it wasn't a result of EIPH.

“I think the other one which might have been commented on was a horse who broke through the starting gate before the start,” said Howard. “It was examined and reloaded, and ran its race. Post-race, there was a small amount of blood noted in a nostril. The horse was examined in the test barn and a small abrasion or laceration was noted. The private veterinarian came and scoped the horse and there was no bleeding noted in the lower airways.”

Imprimis broke through the starting gate before the start of the Shakertown.

Kentucky's commission voted unanimously for the partial furosemide phaseout in December 2019 and racetracks implemented house rules preventing the administration of furosemide less than 24 hours before a race for 2-year-olds beginning in spring 2020, as a stopgap until the new rule worked its way through legislative approval and became law. The Kentucky HBPA took the tracks and commission to court over the house rules and commission regulation changes. A judge ruled in favor of the tracks and commission in November 2020.

Kentucky does keep records of epistaxis events, and is also participating in a multi-jurisdiction study to administer scopes post-race on horses subject to the 24-hour furosemide rule. The academic study, led by Washington State University, will compare scope results from jurisdictions with a variety of furosemide administration times. Data collection is ongoing and the university is not expected to release results until analysis is complete. Howard was unable to comment on the data collected from Kentucky.

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Kentucky: Lasix, New Medication Rules Take Effect As Legislative Committee Declines Action

The Kentucky Legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations heard debate about the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's new medication rules on Tuesday, the most controversial of which is the regulation prohibiting race-day Lasix in 2-year-olds this year.

According to bloodhorse.com, the committee declined to take action to stop the regulations, allowing the new rules to take effect immediately.

Tracks in Kentucky have implemented no-Lasix for 2-year-olds this year via house rule, but now the regulation is a part of the KHRC regulatory standard. Dr. Bruce Howard, KHRC equine medical director, told the committee that of 60 juvenile races with a total of 532 starters, only one horse had been observed or reported to have bled from the nostrils.

“Eighty-nine percent of the 2-year-olds showed no evidence of blood in their airways and only two out of the 47 scoped showed anything more than a trace of blood,” Dr. Howard said, referring to a week-long study at Keeneland during the summer meet.

The Lasix ban will extend to all graded stakes races in 2021.

Earlier this year, the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association filed suit against the tracks that first implemented the new regulations. The suit is ongoing.

Additional rules included in the new KHRC regulations include: a pushback of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) from 24 hours to 48 hours before post time, a rule against stacking NSAIDs, a pushback of intra-articular corticosteroids to 14 days prior to race day, a rule requiring trainers or owners to submit 14 days' worth of a horse's medical records to the commission prior to race day, elimination of bisphosphonates in racing and in horses younger than 4 years old, and a rule requiring a horse be examined by an attending veterinarian in addition to a commission veterinarian pre-race.

Details Emerge On Maryland Study Tracking EIPH In Lasix-Free 2-Year-Old Runners

A survey study of all 2-year-olds that race in Maryland this year to determine the extent of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage is set to begin Friday, Aug. 7, at Laurel Park.

The Maryland Equine Safety, Health and Welfare Advisory Committee, which falls under the Maryland Racing Commission, on July 31 approved the plan for post-race video endoscopies of all starters in all 2-year-old races. The first 2-year-old races of the year in the state have been carded as extras for the Friday, Aug. 7 program.

Under an emergency regulation approved Aug. 2, all 2-year-old races through Dec. 31 will be run Lasix-free with a 48-hour cut-off of the therapeutic medication. The survey study is part of a broader agreement between the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and The Stronach Group for the Lasix-free pilot program that runs through 2023 for 2-year-old races and graded stakes only. Graded stakes in 2020 are not part of the pilot program.

Private veterinarians who practice at Laurel will conduct the video endoscopies and complete information forms for each horse that will include the horse's name, its EIPH score, any related comments, and whether the horse trains on Lasix. Additional useful data from each race and race day will be added to the information forms, which will be transferred to an online database.

The MRC will maintain all records from the survey study, and only a horse's owner and trainer will be given the results of a scope to maintain anonymity. Horses will be scored using a range from 0 to 3—none, mild, moderate or severe bleeding—for the purpose of simplification.

Dr. John Sivick, a Laurel-based veterinarian who is a member of the Equine Safety, Health and Welfare Advisory Committee, said endoscopies are usually performed 30 minutes to 90 minutes after a race, but the goal will be a window of 40 minutes to 70 minutes post-race to keep the scores as consistent as possible.

All horsemen who enter 2-year-olds in Maryland for the rest of this year can expect the horses to be scoped. The Maryland Jockey Club Racing office will notify horsemen when entries are made and also the morning of the race. Grooms must wait with a horse until it is scoped.

Owners and trainers do not have to pay for the video endoscopies however, they will be entitled to the results.

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Kentucky Lasix Suit To Continue After Judge Reverses His Own Order

The civil suit in Franklin County Circuit Court over a partial Lasix phaseout in Kentucky will continue after a judge granted a motion from the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association to set aside, vacate, alter or amend an earlier judgment dismissing the case.

In June, Judge Thomas Wingate had denied a motion from the KHBPA for a temporary injunction to stop Churchill Downs and Keeneland from writing races for 2-year-olds requiring Lasix to be given 24 hours pre-race, rather than the typical four hours. The tracks had begun carding those races while waiting for regulations approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (also named as a defendant in the suit) to go into effect. The KHBPA contended that the tracks don't have the legal power to card no-Lasix races, since medication regulation is supposed to be made and enforced by the commission.

The tracks and commission argued that existing rules do permit racetracks to card no-Lasix races.

Part of the reason Wingate dismissed the case in June was due to a technical point about associational standing on the part of the KHBPA; “associational standing” in a legal sense refers to whether the organization represents members who had grounds to bring a suit in their own right, whether it is seeking to protect interests relevant to its members and whether the claims it makes require participation of individual members to the suit.

In an order this week, Wingate wrote “the Court understands the Plaintiff's position that it was not given adequate time, once standing was raised, to sufficiently address the issue prior to the Court dismissing the Complaint for lack of standing.”

Now, Wingate wrote, it's likely the matter will be decided on the strength of competing motions for summary judgment from each side in the suit. Wingate ordered the parties involved to set a date for oral arguments in the case within 10 days of granting the KHBPA's motion to vacate on July 29.

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