Judge dismisses KHBPA Lasix lawsuit

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A Kentucky Circuit Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the state’s horsemen’s group that would have barred tracks in the state from writing races in which raceday administrations of Lasix are banned absent a formal ban by the state’s racing commission.

Judge Thomas Wingate of Franklin County Circuit Court issued the ruling Monday, five days after conducting a telephonic hearing among parties to the suit to consider a request by the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association for a temporary restraining order and a request by the defendants for the suit to be dismissed. The KHBPA had named the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Churchill, and Keeneland as defendants.

The ruling will allow Churchill and Keeneland to continue to offer races for 2-year-olds in which Lasix is not allowed to be administered within 24 hours of a race. The KHRC has already approved a rule banning raceday administrations of Lasix in 2-year-old races this year, but the rule is making its way through a legal process that could take months before it can be formally endorsed by the legislature. The rule expands the ban to all stakes races in 2021.

In the ruling, Wingate wrote that the Kentucky HBPA’s complaint “fails to contain a single allegation that a member of the KHBPA was unable to run a horse due to Churchill and Keeneland” writing the Lasix-free races, which are allowed under a rule adopted by the KHRC in 2015. As a result, Wingate said, the KHBPA could not demonstrate standing.

“Because the KHBPA cannot meet the first prong of the test for associational standing, the Court does not need to consider whether the interest that the KHBPA seeks to protect is germane to the organization’s purpose and whether the claim asserted or the relief requested requires the participation of the individual members of the lawsuit,” Wingate wrote.

However, Wingate added that “failure to establish standing in this action does not foreclose future litigation.”

Earlier in the ruling, Wingate struck down the KHBPA’s arguments that the KHRC illegally delegated its duties to racetracks in allowing the tracks to run the races. Wingate also disagreed with the KHBPA’s arguments that horsemen and horses would suffer “irreparable harm” from the Lasix-free races while the lawsuit is making its way through the courts.

In the ruling, Wingate leaned heavily on arguments made by attorneys for Churchill Downs and Keeneland that the tracks announced plans in 2019 to ban the raceday administration of Lasix in 2-year-old races held in 2020.

A number of racing organizations supportive of bans on the raceday administration of Lasix filed briefs in support of the tracks, including The Jockey Club, Breeders’ Cup Ltd., and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association.