On Lasix - Jerry Brown's Op-Ed on TDN

[nicely nicely]

http://thoroughbreddailynews.com/on-lasix-letter-to-the-editor-from-jerry-brown/

[Dana666]

\"The movement to ban Lasix is being driven by “sportsmen” (i.e., those who don’t make their living in racing), and a group with a profit motive, commercial breeders, who also don’t make their living in racing.\"

That\'s spot on--great observation.

Racing in the UK, for example, where lasix is banned, is so different. It\'s more of an aristocratic thing. They\'ll have horses who cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, euros, etc.  running for ridiculously small purses in maiden races. The equation doesn\'t work unless you are royalty or independently wealthy, It is such a different model than this country.

[TGJB]

Another difference is the pace is WAY faster in American racing, especially on dirt. Horses run hard and are under stress all the way.

[Al Caught Up]

forgive me if this is a dumb question... but who do you mean by \'sportsmen\' here? I get the breeders, can\'t guess who the others are or for that matter why the term is set off with quotes (\'so-called sportsmen\'?)?

[TGJB]

Phipps and many others in the Jockey Club would be examples of sportsmen. For them it\'s sport, not a business. They aren\'t in racing to make a living.

[BitPlayer]

What I don\'t get is why the commercial breeders (at least the ones with interests in stallions) would support the ban on Lasix.  Assuming that the tendency to bleed is hereditary, if they own stallions that needed Lasix to avoid bleeding (unlike Runhappy, who, as you may have heard, raced medication-free), wouldn\'t the value of their stallion interests go down?

[Strike]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Phipps and many others in the Jockey Club would be
> examples of sportsmen. For them it\'s sport, not a
> business. They aren\'t in racing to make a living.

https://www.paulickreport.com/news/people/jockey-club-announces-election-of-six-new-members/

Hard to argue with that. All descendants of very successful people -- both in racing and more specific -- wealth-creating businesses. Racing is a hobby but a very important hobby for them.