Yesterday, the Breeders’ Cup announced the results of a Lasix study conducted on juveniles at last month’s event, and the apologists surely won’t be happy. In two non-BC races, 2-year-olds were allowed to compete with the drug. Of those 14 horses, 10 (71%) bled, 5 on the higher end of the scale. In the BC juvenile races without Lasix (this was the last year of a Lasix ban at the BC), only 15 of 41 (37%) bled, just 3 on the higher end.
While true that the study is but a small statistical sampling, this is a debate that should not exist at all: Raceday Lasix is bad for horses, a conclusion reached long ago by reasonable people, not to mention the rest (save Canada) of the racing world. Lasix is not about equine welfare; it comes back, as most things do, to money. The pharmaceuticals, the administering vets, and the trainers (furosemide is a performance-enhancer and may mask other drugs) all (financially) gain from raceday Lasix, at the expense of sentient animals. This is horseracing.
