In this case, we’re not referencing drugs euphemistically called “juice,” “rocket fuel,” “hop,” or any other name one cares to attach to it.
Rather, it’s the continued use of legal raceday medication that will have an equally profound effect on how the industry is shown to treat the animals in its care, as well as the customers who make the entire exercise possible.
The recent announcement by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, the first major industry organization calling for an end to the use of legal raceday medications furosemide, phenylbutazone or any of its “adjuncts” within five years, is a positive first step.
Furosemide, a.k.a. Lasix, has been proven to be a sword that cuts both ways. There are studies showing it reduces the number of runners suffering from exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhaging (EIPH), but there are others indicating that horses racing on Lasix run faster than those that do not.
If the latter finding doesn’t underscore the theory that Lasix also serves to purge illegal substances from a horse’s system faster, or work as a masking agent when combined with certain illegal substances, nothing does. In either case, that notion is hard to reconcile.
Lasix was originally intended for horses which upon examination were found to have bled. Now, all trainers seem to need is a note from their friendly veterinarian indicating trace amounts found after a morning workout. Otherwise, how can so many first-time-starting two year olds debut on the diuretic?
Lasix use has more than doubled in the past two decades. According to Jockey Club research, nine of every 10 racehorses run on Lasix each day.
The Jockey Club announcement was followed in rapid succession by other prominent organizations: Breeders’ Cup Ltd., Thoroughbred Racing Associations, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Association (including its Graded Stakes Committee), Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. All have pledged their support.
Churchill Downs Inc. also issued a statement welcoming discussion on the issue. While talk is a cheap commodity, at least the company is following the lead of horsemen’s groups within the Commonwealth.
Sadly, this issue has been “discussed” industry wide for the last four decades but status quo has remained the order of the day.
No such publicly stated willingness has taken place in other leading jurisdictions thus far, those in California, Florida and New York. The New York Racing Association, the perceived industry leader, has been mum, perhaps owing to the wishes of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association whose current leadership is philosophically pro-Lasix.
Despite the fact TOBA is a founding member of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the NTRA has yet to issue a position on the RCI proposal, choosing instead to hold a wet index finger in the air to measure the velocity of prevailing winds. The NTRA lost badly needed economic support last year and cannot survive more defections from its ranks.
It must be acknowledged that veterinarians have a financial incentive to provide raceday medication, and a trainer's job is made easier via the administration of Lasix and Bute, a pain killer, somewhat easing the financial burden on owners to keep horses in training instead giving them what they occasionally need: Time, and time is money.
Current realities, both aesthetic and economic, synch perfectly with the stance taken by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association in which, among other things, it defended Lasix as little more than a beneficial, therapeutic medication.
“These issues are not as black and white as some would have us believe,” stated the NHBPA in a press release. “It is vital that we balance the needs of effective regulation with sensible practices that benefit the horse.” Of course, this makes perfect sense, except for the part about benefiting the horse.
Worse was its appalling and hypocritical conclusion to their position paper: “Let’s step back from the ‘shock and awe’ tactics and focus on policies that are in the best long-term interest of the racehorses and the owners, trainers, jockeys, grooms and exercise riders who care for them each day.”
The use of raceday medication going forward not only will have a direct effect on racing’s survival but to what extent it will prosper in the future. And nowhere is the plight of the betting public and fans of Thoroughbred racing considered. This begs several questions, to wit:
How many bettors have walked away from the game because they don’t believe the playing field is level for all? How many in the last decade walked away in the aftermath of the very public Barbaro and Eight Belles tragedies?
How can so many of the game’s practitioners fail to see that what they accept as “unfortunate accidents that are part of the game” is unacceptable to an unknowing and unsophisticated populace?
Do so many horsemen wear closed-cup blinkers that they cannot see “taking a bad step” is nothing more or nothing less than animal cruelty in the public’s eye, a public that could shut the whole down thing down because for 15 minutes they were empowered to take action and feel good about themselves?
What if, tragically, a Kentucky Derby contender takes a bad step from which it will never recover? How many more bad steps will the general public tolerate before it demands that federal, state, or local governments padlock the gates of racetracks everywhere?
Although the RCI means well, five years is too long to wait, but 2012 is not a practical time frame either. Shouldn’t every responsible organization admit to themselves that the public, unaware of racing’s glorious past, resents medication in all sports, legal and otherwise?
While a real fix may be somewhere off in the near future, now is the time for racing to admit they’re aware of how society perceives the industry. Be proactive. Ask NBC Sports for a segment on its Derby Day telecast to admit that racing, just like other sports and society as a whole, has a drug problem.
Show the viewing public that Thoroughbred racing cares, that it’s aware of the problem and is taking steps to deal with medication issues real and imagined. And explain why this all can’t be done in time for the Preakness.
Tell them that if racing doesn‘t get its act together the Jockey Club will deny registration to foals whose sire and dam ran raced legal medication and not allowed to race, or how the Graded Stakes Committee could make stallions and dams less valuable in the marketplace by denying graded status to stakes winners competing on medication.
Show the public how you intend to get serious about dealing with the medication issue. Or continue to do nothing and live with the consequences. There is always a reckoning. Have you noted the continuing decline in attendance, handle and breeding values?
Collectively look at the numbers then try to rationalize it by convincing yourself otherwise. Intended or not, the RCI initiative sounded a clarion call. Ignore it at your peril, if not tomorrow then the day after. Business as usual is running out of racetrack, and fast.
Tomorrow: A Few Practical Suggestions
21 Apr 2011 at 02:24 am | #
If I recall, New York was one of the last holdouts to allow Lasix. Do you think this was because they have always been adverse to change, any change, good or bad, or was there a force fighting evil in place that no longer exists in the Empire State?
TTT
21 Apr 2011 at 02:56 am | #
The abuse of lasix IMO has ruined the game. Now every horse is on it whether they bleed or not. Trainers have to keep up with the Joneses to compete and I believe the masking element has led to other drug use.
Today handicapping a race requires not only speed, trip and breeding figures, it requires a guess of who has the best juice.
21 Apr 2011 at 03:25 am | #
No one track can unilaterally move on this issue. Say NYRA did ban race day medications. What do you think is going to happen to their horse population? Hello Delaware, Philadelphia, Maryland, etc. It would destroy their business more assuridly than all the other things combined that people seem to think killed horse racing. Unlike most other things in life, this is an all or none issue.
21 Apr 2011 at 03:59 am | #
Al, how true.
On a totally different subject (forgive me); granted, a selfish concern, but falls under the same reasoning you outline.
Without the universal implementation of the Trakus system, they will never make the distance traveled relative to the winner an integral part of a horse’s past performance record (an incredible tool), not to mention accurate identification of the position of horses during the running of a race, for those fans who are interested in scrutinizing the position of the horses (who isn’t).
To me, being able to easily find where each and every horse is during the running, makes the game much more enjoyable, is vital in getting and keeping new patrons, without which, all the rest is academic, isn’t it? Again, forgive me for my deviation from the subject matter, the health of the horses.
TTT
21 Apr 2011 at 04:25 am | #
T,
NYRA was the last major track to allow Lasix use. Despite the protestations of the influential Dinny Phipps and then NYRA steward Dr. Manny Gilman, track president Kenny Noe was able to convince all, including members of the media such as myself, regretably, that NYRA needed Lasix use to compete with neighboring states. That was true then, and probably would be true now, if they acted unilaterally. But no track can act unilaterally untilit gains approval of its horseman, legislative bodies, etc.
Doc Gilman warned me what would happen to the breed over time. Unfortunately, we’re seeing that prophecy played out today. All of us, myself included, should have heeded his advice.
Cat, sadly there’s no question that handicappers factor “juice” into their handicapping equations.
And it’s true that horsemen ARE keeping up with the Jones’s. Why do you think most foreign horsemen add Lasix when competing in the Breeders’ Cup?
Al, never suggested NYRA act unilaterally, just lend philosophical support to the notion of hay, oats and water.
Agree this is an all or none issue. First it’s time to get everyone on the same page, especially the horsemen. Much easier said than done, that.
21 Apr 2011 at 04:54 am | #
There is no good reason to continue using Lasix. Even the research study done in South Africa and sponsored by the Grayson-Jockey Club was flawed and I’m sure they know it. They raced each horse twice, once on Lasix and once on placebo. That’s it! Since when should a drug be considered beneficial without studying the long term effects of its use?
21 Apr 2011 at 07:26 am | #
Another great article Mr. Pricci. I would suggest that in four years, the Association of Racing Commissioners International will come up with another Five year plan.
21 Apr 2011 at 09:59 am | #
My only problem with this column is that the statement that status quo has been the order of the day for four decades. Perhaps if your referring only to discussion but the use of permissive medications and the type of them has steadily increased over that time. Lasix is not the only problem. Bute, allegedly a therapeutic medication, is given 24 hours out. Clenbuterol use is rampant though it must be withdrawn some days out. Vets provide “cocktails” of varying ingredients to these animals. Sometime if any of you have a chance, get your hands on a vet’s bill. See what the cost is to get a horse to a race. The economics, no matter what the purse structure, really make no sense. And this is one reason why there are fewer horses - fewer owners willing to be abused.
I’ve been in this business for most of those four decades and each day I become more disillusioned.
21 Apr 2011 at 10:07 am | #
Easygoer, I’m with you:
H.O.W.L.: Hay, Oats, Water and Love.
JP, looking forwarded to your suggestions tomorrow.
TTT
21 Apr 2011 at 01:09 pm | #
Tigers6, Denny McClain, right?
Anyway, I have seen vet bills and have written several times already: “The difference between a 15% trainer and a 30% trainer is a thousand a month vs. twenty-five hundred. Keep the faith.
JP
21 Apr 2011 at 08:21 pm | #
I would appreciate it if you would discuss how other countries handle this issue. It is my understanding that the U.S. is the only country that uses race day drugs. In addition, I think I read recently that there is a proposed boycott of U.S. horse racing by European racing groups. If the U.S. is the only country that uses these drugs, then how can anyone reasonably argue for their use here? If elsewhere they have figured out how to deal with the issues the drugs here are supposedly used for, what is the problem here? How does a horse like Black Caviar compete at the highest levels without drugs? Goldikova?
To get the drugs out of the sport here, it may be necessary to work toward a national racing commission and commissioner, because, as someone pointed out, they’ve been talking about this issue for decades with no change. I fear that if the industry doesn’t do this that at some point, it will be done for it by way of the federal government stepping in. The public will ignore this for only so long, and then there will be congressional hearings with the attendant horror stories and bad publicity, and as the song says, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over!” The absolute worst possible scenario for the sport would be for it to fail to lead and have forces outside their control take over the sport. This issue—and the unwise breeding practices—are the elephant in the living room, IMHO.
11 Jun 2011 at 10:26 pm | #
Long live the easter bunny and santa claus. The wicked witch is dead. Ray Paulick has declared the Belmont a huge success proving ALL of racing is completely healthy and in need of NO changes. He declares the bobble head doll inititives a huge success and is supporting his view by actively censoring anyone on his site with an opposing view.
So, we should beg, borrow or steal every cent we can because racing is now a winners game. 95% are winners on a daily basis and only the 5% who cannot leave the 50 cent dogs and $1 beer alone are leaving with less money than they started with.
Have borrowed my bro’s tent and lantern and I am moving into the Belmont track lobby for the summer. I should be a millionaire twice over by the time Saratoga starts.
Who’s with me??? Yeah. That is what I thought. Anyone else notice how hard it is to reverse the toilet after it has been flushed??? Racing sure as he11 does not have a clue. RIP…