Win without Lasix, get Oaklawn bonus

HOT SPRINGS -- One of the last racetrack owners to allow bleeder medication is leading a campaign to rid horse racing of the drug Lasix.

Charles Cella announced Thursday that Oaklawn Park will offer purse bonuses for horses that run and win without Lasix, also called furosemide or Salix, in the 2015 racing season.

The Lasix-free bonus program offers a 10 percent addition to the winner's share of the purse for all horses that win without the drug. The incentives will range from $1,080 for its minimum purse of $18,000 up to $60,000 for the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby. According to a news release, the total potential bonus supplement will be $1.4 million.

Cella said the bonus payments will not come out of the purse fund.

Cella called the program "experimental" and that he hopes it will inspire more owners and trainers to race their horses off Lasix.

"We know some horses do indeed need Lasix in order to run to potential, and I want to make this very clear: We are not advocating that horses who need Lasix [should] race without it," Cella said. "However, it is also our belief that many of the horses running on Lasix may not need it.

"We think it is in the best interest of the sport and the breed to find a way to have more horses run without Lasix. Our hope is this program will be a step in the right direction."

Race-day use of Lasix has been allowed in the United States since the early 1970s. Although the vast majority of thoroughbreds race on Lasix, the Jockey Club and a growing number of the sport's more prominent owners and trainers have come out in support of reduced use of Lasix on race days.

"I applaud Oaklawn for thinking outside the box and taking a positive step toward trying to reduce race-day therapeutic medications," said Mark Lamberth, of Batesville, an Arkansas Racing Commission member and chairman-elect for the Association of Racing Commissioners International. "As an owner and lover of the sport, this makes me proud to be from Arkansas, where racing continues to come first."

Oaklawn's 2015 season runs Jan. 9 through April 11, and Cella said if results are encouraging at the meet he would hope other tracks might consider similar programs.

Arapahoe Park in Colorado introduced a similar program in June. Trainers who won with horses "void of any race day medication" in their system earned a $1,000 bonus. Daily Racing Form reported that 21 horses ran medication-free from that point through the close of the meet in mid-August, with three of those horses totaling four victories.

"We don't know if this will work or not," said Cella, who also owns thoroughbreds. "We're trying to do the right thing, and we want to send a message that if you have a good horse that does not need Lasix, come to Oaklawn. If the program does work, we'll share the results with other tracks and racing jurisdictions, and we'll build on it here at Oaklawn."

Oaklawn has increased purses each of the past seven years and anticipates a record purse distribution of $23.5 million in 2015, more than $400,000 per day. Maiden-special-weight races will start at $60,000, up $5,000 from the beginning of the 2014 racing season.

Sports on 09/19/2014

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