Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council to fund multi-state study on Lasix

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council has approved a proposal to provide as much as $30,000 in funding toward a multi-state study of furosemide use and bleeding in 2-year-old horses.

The proposal was approved unanimously by the council at a Friday meeting and will be sent to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for its approval. The commission routinely approves proposals that have already been sanctioned by the EDRC.

The study, which will be conducted by Dr. Warwick Bayly, a leading researcher on furosemide use and exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, will use endoscopic examinations of 2-year-olds to compare the severity of bleeding in horses that race in jurisdictions where Lasix use is banned within 48 hours of a race, 24 hours of a race, and four hours of a race.

In the past 18 months, a number of states have put in place restrictions on the administration of Lasix in 2-year-olds, and many of those states expect to expand the restrictions to horses running in graded stakes next year. Kentucky recently formalized rules banning Lasix administrations for 2-year-olds within 24 hours of a race, and that ban will be expanded to stakes races as of Jan. 1.

“We thought that would be a very valuable aspect of this study, being able to compare them across these states with the different time restrictions,” said Dr. Bruce Howard, equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, in an interview after the EDRC hearing.

Racetracks and racing commissions in a number of states, including California, New York, Florida, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have already agreed to provide funding and participate in the study. The participants were all asked to provide as much as $30,000 in funding, but the amounts will be pared based on the number of organizations providing funding, according to officials of the EDRC.

“I anticipate our costs to be much less than the $30,000,” Howard told the EDRC. Howard said that state veterinarians have already begun to scope 2-year-olds who are running at the Keeneland meet.

A second aspect of the study will examine horses’ immune-system response to the use of Lasix, according to the EDRC officials. That aspect of the study will rely on the analysis of blood samples taken from the horses that are scoped.