Lasix advocates need firmer grip on issue's reality
This is in response to the Aug. 28 letter "Move to stop Lasix will quickly prove harmful mistake." There were a number of generalizations and interpretations that are not correct or open to dispute:
Better Talk Now, the popular multiple-Grade 1-winning gelding whose racing career spanned nine years, was showing signs of progress Friday after having been taken to the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania earlier in the week with a gastrointestinal problem.
According to a posting on trainer Graham Motion’s website, herringswellstables.com, Better Talk Now, now 12 years old, was shipped from the Fair Hill training center to New Bolton on Tuesday and was found to have a condition that does not allow for normal function of his esophagus and small intestine.
Jockey Jacky Martin, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a spill Sept. 2, has been transferred to a Houston rehabilitation center after spending the past month at a hospital in El Paso, Texas.
Martin on Thursday was transported to TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital, the same facility that treated Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head in January.
Cindy "Cricket" Romero, a former employee of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, was sentenced Thursday to three years probation with the special condition of six months home detention for her role in a mail fraud case involving the organization’s 2008 election. She also was fined $3,000, according to a statement issued by the office of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
Female runners who typified the depth of the division in their eras (wins over males in bold).
Twilight Tear
1944 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly, Hall of Fame
Major wins:
1944 – Pimlico Special, Washington Park Classic, CCA Oaks, Acorn Stakes, Pimlico Oaks
The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association is lining up allies and pressing its effort to get state racing commissions to ban the race-day use of the anti-bleeding medication furosemide in 2-year-old races next year, but there are significant hurdles.
It began innocently enough, in July 2010, when the West’s best 3-year-old filly traveled across the continent to run for good money in the $250,000 Delaware Oaks. Her opposition included an improving local filly with just four starts and nary a stakes win to her name, but the West Coast filly was spotting her six pounds and the track was a sea of slop, so it was safe to say just about anything could have happened.
The Texas Racing Commission granted dates for 2012 at a meeting on Wednesday, and also approved a request from Retama Park near San Antonio to extend its current Thoroughbred meet to Nov. 5.
The season was to close on Oct. 15. But there will ultimately be two more dates this meet after the track received approval to drop its remaining four Thursdays but add six programs, to be run on Fridays and Saturdays.
