The Jockey Club Statement On Race Day Medication

[Patuxet]

This is TJC press release which coincided with the announcement by New Mexico Democratic Sen. Tom Udall that he and Kentucky Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield will introduce legislation next week amending the Interstate Horseracing Act with language regulating the use of medication and impose strong penalties for violators.

Given its timing and the fact that it's rather comprehensive -- especially about Lasix -- TJC seems to have had had prior knowledge of the pending legislative action.

http://www.jockeyclub.com/mediaCenter.asp?story=489

[louis finochio]

The med not lasix, is given in small doses, just enough to take away their inflamation. These FB of today arent those Iron Warriors of the past. If these FB are not given their med, short fields will become the norm.

[BenB]

In france the latetst course med,s can be giving 8 days prior to a race, injuries are seldom over there

[TJ]

In france the latetst course med,s can be giving 8 days prior to a race, injuries are seldom over there

Hi Ben,
Honestly an 8 day withdrawal could work. I could see them allowing lasix possibly for pre-race workouts so the horse doesn't bleed and miss a scheduled race. They may possibly allow lasix to be withdrawn at a closer time period then the 8 days...say for the final work prior to a race, maybe 5-7 days. What I think many are forgetting is that our horses run faster over harder surfaces then they have in Europe. Even the great Euro runner, Frankel went his mile in 1:37 and left the field for dead. It's not that tough to ready a horse to race drug free on race day...but that's where another misconception arises. Many that are not involved with the day to day routine of training race horses believe horses that race drug free on race day never see the drugs that horses are given currently in America.....but they do, they just withdraw those meds sooner. As long as you can train on meds....when necessary, the horse will get race fit and stay sound. What you will see is more galloping and less breezing too close to races to hold the bad bleeder's between races. You will see works done at least 7 or more days away from a race according to what the new lasix rules are. It's really not a big deal.....but then you have those that just can't comprehend making these changes....but it can be done. The biggest problem would be the bleeding issue.....that could create problems as it did years ago when they instituted lasix because it affected the size of the fields. TJ