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Pennsylvania Amends Lasix Rules

The Pennsylvania Racing Commission has adopted a new set of rules regarding the medication Lasix, which will soon be banned in all 2-year-old races and graded stakes. The rules, which were approved at a regularly scheduled commission meeting Tuesday, will go into effect June 1.

There are seven graded stakes races set to be run this year at Parx, including the GI Pennsylvania Derby and the GI Cotillion S.

“I thought that it was obvious that this was the right way to go because Lasix gets abused badly,” said Racing Commissioner Russell Jones, Jr. “There are horses on it that don't need to be on it. It's just 2-year-olds and graded stakes for now. One step at a time.”

Pennsylvania joins a growing list of states that have cracked down on the use of Lasix. For the first time in decades, it will not be allowed at any of this year's Triple Crown races.

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Steve Asmussen Talks ‘Family Horse’ Super Stock On Writers’ Room

One of the few major races left to win for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen is the most significant prize in racing, so a win in this year's GI Kentucky Derby would satisfy an ultimate career goal. But if he were to do it with Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby victor Super Stock (Dialed In), a horse with the Asmussen family's fingerprints all over him, it would represent the sentimental success of a lifetime. Wednesday, Asmussen joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland to discuss Super Stock, the permanent chip on his shoulder, who he would pick between some of his legendary trainees head to head and more.

Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Asmussen talked about his emotional connection to Super Stock, who is co-owned by his father and was ridden to victory by his oldest son for his first stakes win last summer.

“We've been very fortunate in racing, had many successes, but a circumstance in which you can leg your son up on a stakes winner for your parents is quite unique, to say the least, and is a very special experience,” he said. “I have so many emotions about it. You imagine having that kind of success going into a race, but I did not realize what it actually meant, and the outpouring of love, respect and support since the [Arkansas Derby] for my parents and who they are has been the best part for me. This is my mom and dad's story. They supported us unwaveringly and put me and Cash in the positions we've been in to have success in this business. They're both 79 years old and unique circumstances allowed them to keep this horse. Dad has had Grade I winners in the past, he's just sold them all. That probably would have happened with this horse as well if not for the pandemic. It's brought mom and dad to the forefront and gotten them the respect and admiration that I know they deserve.”

Asked how it would change his life to win a Derby after coming up empty with his first 21 starters, Asmussen said, “I don't know yet, but I'd hate to lose this chip on my shoulder, lose the edge. The next horse that you run is the most important horse. Our motto around here is, 'Everything matters or nothing matters.' So don't lose that chip. We've got to keep it in front of us. We get tremendous opportunities and we respect them and want to make the most of them. Whenever Super Stock won, it was meant to be, so that's what we're looking for going into the Derby. It'll happen, if it's meant to be.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to the weekend's big races and handicapped all five participants' chances to win the Writers' Room Derby Chase fantasy 3-year-old contest. In the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, they lamented yet another slap-on-the-wrist fine for a trainer with a drug positive and lauded Indiana Grand's decision to broadcast video explanations for all of its steward decisions. And, in welcoming new sponsor the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project, they talked about TDN's most-read story of the week, which featured trainer Joe Orseno railing against the Lasix ban in stakes races. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Letter To The Editor: More Transparency Of Racehorses’ Medical Records Is Needed

Jerry Brown, in an op/ed recently published in the Thoroughbred Daily News, stated his belief that horses running in stakes races were not running true to form possibly because of not running on Lasix in those races. Brown pointed out that these horses may have been scoped post-race, but very often the fans, handicappers, and the public have no idea what the results of these scopes are.

This issue is not related to just scoping a horse looking for bleeding, but in all facets of a horse's medical care, including when it comes to the death of a horse that occurs on the grounds of a racetrack or training center. Racing woefully fails this transparency test, a fact known for years.

I know that there are legal hurdles to making this information easily accessible. Medical records kept by a veterinarian can only be released to another party with the consent of the owner of the animal in question. This type of language is present in basically every Veterinary Practice Act in every single state in the country. I also know that there is an easy fix to the issue as well. All that is needed is to add a simple line or two on every state racehorse owner license application that reads something akin to, “I hereby give consent for the medical records of any horse that I have a full or part ownership in to be released or transferred to a party requesting them.”

It should just be a required part of being able to obtain an owners license. All it takes to make it happen is the desire for change.

I know one of the arguments against providing full transparency of medical records and fatal injury data has always been that the public will not understand it, and the animal rights crowd will try to twist it to fit their narrative on things. Well, that argument is correct on both counts. You know what else is correct though? It is taking the time to make the information easy for the public to understand and fighting back against the misinformation.

The industry can no longer rely on the old refrain of “You just don't understand the industry” when presented with any question or argument against racing. Take the time to explain what we all “don't understand,” especially to followers of the sport who have the greatest chance of becoming fans.

It is something I have come to call the “10-80-10” rule that I have learned from working in the non-profit realm. 10% of people are always going to think racing is wrong, inhumane, and should be forever banned. They are never going to see a different point of view or accept explanations of data that are not fitting their narrative. On the other end of the spectrum there are 10% of people who think nothing needs to change in the racing industry and there really is not a problem at all. They will not agree to changing anything even if the data points to a need for it. Neither extremes are where racing needs to focus (even though both often shout the loudest and we all know what wheel get the grease).

What racing needs to focus on is the 80% in the middle that are asking to be heard but are also willing to sit down and discuss things in a productive way that benefits the sport and its fan base. Providing not only transparency but an explanation about that transparency in a manner that people can understand builds the trust needed to bring new blood into the game.

–Dr. Bryan Langlois, past president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, board of directors of Animal Care PA and Thorofan

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

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Orseno: ‘Wrong And Naïve To Think No Damage Is Being Done To Horses Just Because They Didn’t Bleed Through The Nostrils’

The following statement was released by trainer Joe Orseno on Thursday, following reports from the Kentucky State Veterinarian's office earlier this week:

Published reports and social media have had some incorrect information about what did and didn't happen to my horse Imprimis, who finished second by a nose to Bound for Nowhere in Keeneland's Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes Saturday while racing without the anti-bleeder medication Lasix. I want to set the record straight:

Thank God the considerable blood coming from Imprimis' left nostril after the race was not pulmonary hemorrhaging. It also was not from what has been erroneously reported as being a cut on his nose sustained when he broke through the gate prior to the start. Imprimis does have a sizable bump on his nose – about six inches from his nostril – from where his head apparently hit the gate, but he did not sustain any cuts. The endoscopic examination that I had my private veterinarian conduct did reveal trace levels of Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhaging. I'm just so thankful that it wasn't more severe.

The bleeding episode apparently was like being punched in the nose, when you can develop a nose bleed without being cut. So Imprimis must have banged his head pretty hard and it went unnoticed.

I also don't retract what I told journalists after the race. I'll say it again right now: It's not good for the industry what they're doing forcing horses, particularly older horses, to run without Lasix in stakes races. And apparently that's not just one trainer's opinion. I didn't know so many people had my phone number, all the horsemen who called or emailed me and said, “thank you for speaking up” — trainers I don't even know. Someone in California called me out of the clear blue and said “thank you, someone had the guts to say something.” I don't look at it that way. At the time, it wasn't about guts, it was about being very upset over my horse. I've been doing this 44 years and it's not just my livelihood, it's my life.

The state vets at Keeneland did a very thorough examination on my horse in the morning. I'm sure they looked at him after he broke through the gate, saw no cuts, saw no head abrasions, no blood in his nose then. They put him back in the gate and let him run. If they had seen anything, I'm sure they would have scratched him.

The first thing I do after a race is look at their legs, and make sure everything is OK. When I subsequently saw his nose and blood just pouring off his left nostril, you have to assume the horse bled.

When the press asked me about the race, the first thing I said was, “Well, I think my horse ran a great race, got beat by a very good horse.” I said, “He beat me, I beat him (in 2019 Shakertown), only noses separated them.”

Then I started on the bleeding, because I thought my horse bled horribly. That's when I made my statement that someone has to explain to me why we're making horses bleed, older horses that have run on Lasix their whole life, and now all of a sudden you're going to penalize the best horses in the country. It's not good for the game, when we can stop it with an easy fix.

My veterinarian's endoscopic exam of Imprimis showed that most of the blood was from banging his head. He did have traces, a trickle down his throat, showing that he did bleed a little in the trachea. We were very lucky. Now he might still be on track for his next race. I was very pleased for the owners that I didn't have to put him away for four or five months. He's bright-eyed today and looks great. He just has a bump on his nose.

There are many horses that bleed significantly but not always externally. It is wrong and naive to think no damage is being done to horses just because they didn't bleed through the nostrils. It is also deceptive for those who are trying to label an EIPH episode only by visible blood from the nostrils. How are you going to tell an owner this horse is going to only run four times this year instead of eight or nine because I need more time in between to heal them up because he bleeds and we can't use Lasix? They are going to start to get disgusted, and horses will be hurt if they return at all. Owners are not going to be as excited about buying horses and racing if they can't run them more than four times a year.

I am on the board of the Florida HBPA. We are scoping stakes horses – which must run without Lasix at Gulfstream Park – and we're paying for it so we hopefully can all learn something and together make informed and intelligent policy decisions from transparent data going forward. I'd say overall that the overwhelming majority of these horses are bleeding to some degree. The numbers aren't good. Do we really want to do this to our horses? I sure don't.

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