Maryland horsemen, The Stronach Group reach deal on Lasix ban

Two-year-olds running in Maryland will not be allowed to be administered furosemide within 48 hours of a race through 2023 under an agreement reached between the owner of the state’s Thoroughbred tracks and its horsemen, according to officials for both sides.

The ban on furosemide, which will be extended to graded stakes races beginning next year, was part of a multi-part agreement hashed out between the two sides after they came to loggerheads three weeks ago over the issue of the raceday use of furosemide, a diuretic known as Lasix that is administered to mitigate bleeding in the lungs.

Late in June, the owner of the state’s racetracks, The Stronach Group, said that it would no longer write races for 2-year-olds if horsemen did not agree to run the races without a ban on raceday Lasix. That policy followed a determination by the state’s racing commission that said the tracks could not place a ban on raceday Lasix as a condition of a race.

Under the agreement, the two sides have agreed to the new Lasix policies while also agreeing to undertake a study “with respect to Lasix-free racing,” The Stronach Group said.

David Richardson, executive director of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which brokered the agreement with The Stronach Group, said that the parameters of the study are “still to be determined.” He said that the horsemen’s group and The Stronach Group wanted to put in place the other aspects of the agreement immediately and would hash out those parameters over the next few months.

Critical to horsemen, according to Richardson, is a stipulation in the agreement that will require The Stronach Group to hold at least three days of live racing per week at “current purse levels,” beginning on July 23. Since racing resumed at Laurel after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the track has been racing two days a week.

“That was the key to this from the horsemen’s standpoint,” Richardson said. “It gives our horsemen some certainty about racing going forward.”

Casinos in Maryland provide subsidies to both purses and The Stronach Group’s operating funds. The casinos have re-opened on a limited basis, but surges in coronavirus cases have created uncertainty about whether the casinos may have to close again soon. Richardson said that under the agreement, The Stronach Group will commit to provide additional funding for purses regardless of the subsidies received by the racing industry.

In regards to the Lasix study, a press release from the two sides said that the “parties agree to discuss in good faith . . . the development and funding of a study and related protocols for post-race scoping of horses to obtain relevant data. The protocols for such study shall include, but not be limited to, establishment of study research parameters and objectives; identification and selection of the horse population for study; development of scoring, criteria, and other scientific methods; selection of persons to conduct the study; and other matters relevant to the study.”

The raceday use of Lasix is one of the most divisive issues in racing, even though racing fans consistently rank the issue low on a list of the industry’s priorities. Many horsemen’s groups continue to support raceday use of the drug, contending that it has legitimate therapeutic effects, while opponents contend that raceday use of any non-natural substance creates public-perception problems and isolates U.S. racing from the rest of the racing world, where raceday Lasix use is generally banned.

In a statement, Tim Keefe, president of the MTHA, called raceday Lasix use “one of our most vexing issues,” and he said that he was proud that MTHA members put the issue aside to work toward a solution through the yet-to-be-determined study.

“We continue to believe that the use of Lasix is in the best interests of the health, safety, and welfare of our horses,” Keefe said. “This agreement allows us to learn more about the impact of withdrawing this medication on race day and hopefully will contribute to informed future policy and regulation. We can now move forward.”

Also as part of the agreement, The Stronach Group has agreed to contribute an additional $250,000 a year for four years to the state’s retirement program, called Beyond the Wire. The current program typically raises approximately $250,000 from a variety of industry sources, so the new contribution will double the budget.