The Lasix Solution A Cynics View Saving the Small Tracks

[richiebee]

I know we are supposed to be locked in on the Derby, the archives, all the data
we can find, doing our Derby digging. As Silver Charm will soon say these are
the best two weeks in Racing Boys and Girls, forget the crap, the sky ain\'t
falling, remain calm, there was never any meteor all the plants and dinosaurs
just decided to go to sleep all at the same time forever one day. Ok.

A lot of what I learned about Lasix I learned at a time when horses had to
visibly bleed to be allowed to use Lasix. There was very little talk of levels
of bleeding which could only be detected by endoscope, because there weren\'t
any endoscopes. Horse went on the Vet\'s list, took some time off, and came back
to race with a shot of juice. If the jurisdiction you wanted to race in allowed
said juice. If a runner bled a second time, with or without the juice, the stay
on the Vet\'s list might be enlarged. A third recorded incident of bleeding
usually meant the end of racing days.

A cynics view:

Most of the major tracks we discuss here, most of the large tracks where
major racing is conducted, will phase out Lasix from 2YO racing and eventually
graded stake racing. The leaders of the pack, the Belinda Stronach Group
(anyone hear from Frank lately?) will eventually eliminate Lasix altogether.
CDI will continue to buy racetracks and casinos, eventually owning 52 tracks,
each affiliated with a casino and each conducting a one week long meet, with the
backstretch of these tracks each consisting of one huge receiving barn. NYRA
will continue its Brilliant! new marketing ploy, officially given a Ken
Sherman \"Huh?\" Award, switching twilight racing to Thursday nights to recapture
a large untapped pool of observant Jewish folk who were deprived of the chance
to wager on the Sabbath.

In case anyone is trying to figure out where I am going with this, don\'t worry
because I just did. This grand scheme to save racing from itself will end up
having the effect of saving and giving a shot in the arm to the tracks which
continue to allow Lasix to be used on race days/nights. Some leaky roofs are
going to get patched but quick. These tracks, right now the Pennsylvania
tracks,* Monmouth Park, the Ohio tracks, Turf Paradise, tiny Fairmount,
Kentucky Downs and Turfway, and many others will maintain the status quo. They
will not have any graded stakes races, but they will be the tracks which will
feature large competitive fields, especially as the use of Lasix is abolished
on a more widespread basis. The two year old Lasix races will be particularly
popular, as it is inconceivable to me that we can go from having 2YO racing
where almost all participants race on Lasix to a racing universe where Lasix is
not available to 2YOs.**

I would imagine border wars will develop where a non Lasix jurisdiction will
bar any runner who has raced on Lasix in the last [ ] days from entering.

______
* The Paulick Report proudly and prominently rails against corruption,
administrative incompetence and rampant drug use in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania\'s racing venues, yet continues to firmly pat the tushies of
certain entities who have somehow become usual suspects/sacred cows (and the
owners who seem to employ only these trainers). It is an interesting
juxtaposition.

** There are 92 horses entered to run at Keeneland this Saturday; 90 of them
are scheduled to be treated with Lasix on race day. This includes the entire
field in the graded stake and the entire field in the lone 2YO race on the card.