Laurel cards first Lasix-free juvenile races

Laurel Park in Maryland has accepted entries for its first 2-year-old race this year, a five-furlong maiden race on Friday’s card in which all the entrants will be prohibited from receiving the anti-bleeding medication Lasix within 48 hours of post time.

Laurel Park has not written a race for 2-year-olds since restarting its race meet in late May, due to a prior disagreement with the state’s horsemen over the Lasix prohibition. However, three weeks ago, Laurel and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association reached an agreement allowing the prohibition through 2023.

That agreement required the issuance of emergency rules by the state’s racing commission that needed approval from a state legislative review committee before the Lasix-free races could be written. The committee approved the rules last weekend.

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The Friday 2-year-old race drew 10 entries. Two extra races on the Friday overnight were written for 2-year-olds with the prohibition in place.

Maryland now becomes the fifth racing jurisdiction this year to card races that prohibit the administration of Lasix to 2-year-olds on race day, joining California, Florida, Kentucky, and New York. The effort to ban raceday Lasix has the support of several powerful constituencies in racing, including Laurel’s parent company, The Stronach Group, though it is generally opposed by rank-and-file horsemen. The bans will be extended to graded stakes races next year.

As part of the effort, the Maryland Racing Commission has agreed to oversee a project to conduct endoscopic exams of all 2-year-olds who have run in a Lasix-free race in the state. The post-race exams will be conducted by private veterinarians and will grade bleeding on a scale of zero to three, with a “zero” rating given to no blood visible in the exam, to three being “severe” bleeding.

Under the agreement between Laurel and its horsemen, the two sides agreed to conduct a study examining bleeding in horses and the factors that may impact the phenomenon. The two sides continue to discuss the parameters of the study, according to an official with knowledge of the situation.