Breeders Cup - The Lasix Debate

So the day has finally arrived and we see the start of the Breeders Cup in Santa Anita. This years renewal is especially interesting as the racing authorities have taken the controversial decision to ban Lasix amongst the juvenile ranks which has led many American trainers to boycott the meeting. The question which the average punter needs to be asking themselves is how this will effect the horses performance and will it tip the scales in favour of the European raiders.

For those who aren't familiar with Lasix it is a drug administered prior to the race to prevent bleeding in the horses lungs. It has been legal in American racing since the 1970's and has been employed to great effect by the majority of the racing elite. In order to understand the reasoning behind it's use a punter needs to understand what causes a horse to bleed and I'm going to try and explain it in simple terms.

A horses body is dividend into two half's (front and the back) separated by a thin diaphragm. The front half contains the animals vital organs such as his heart and lungs, while the back half contains his intestines which are suspended from the chest cavity via sensory ligaments.When the Diaphragm contracts it has the effect of increasing the area of the chest cavity which allows the horse to draw air into its lungs. When running this activity is synchronised so that the horse inhales when his front feet hit the ground and exhales when they leave the ground. This design on the whole works perfectly but the problem with bleeding and breathing is in fact caused in the back section of the horse by the suspended intestines and the reason for this is as follows. During a strenuous fast gallop, the horse's intestines will begin to swing like a pendulum and in some cases they will move out of synch with the perpetual motion of the horses. When this happens the intestines will begin to bash against the  diaphragm and the diaphragm will subsequently push the lungs into the chest wall causing the fine capillaries at the bottom of the lungs to rupture. When the capillaries rupture blood will begin to fill the lungs and the horse will immediately struggle to breath. Although Lasix will not prevent the diaphragm from coming into contact with the lungs, it does lower the horses blood pressure which prevents the capillaries from significant bleeding when ruptured. This in turn will prevent the horse from experiencing breathing problems mid race.

So now that we understand the reason for a horse bleeding, we have to attempt to analyse whether the ban on Lasix will effect the performance of the American Juveniles in this years Breeders Cup and in my opinion it is a resounding YES!

It is a well established fact that American thoroughbreds suffer from breathing problems due to weakness in their bloodlines. There are also external factors which add to the problem such as heat, dust, firm tracks and a racing schedule which favours sprint disciplines over middle distance racing. With this in mind it seems prudent to believe that the first two juveniles races on today's card (Juvenile Sprint and the Juvenile Fillies) could be the scenes of racing upsets as all of the American entries are coming of Lasix for the first time. Although numerous trainers have come out and stated that they believe that their runners will cope with the withdrawal, I have serious reservations, especially as every single one of those horses will be approximately 20lb higher than their previous run due to the urinal discharge associated with the drug. With that in mind I believe it may well pay to side with the European raiders in both races, although the fact that the Juvenille sprint is run on the specialist dirt track may just put and end to CEILING KITTY chances of actually winning the race.

Another point to note is that Godolphin's American operation has been against the use of the drug for a number of years and therefore their runners will not be effected by the ban. With that in mind FORTIFY may prove to be a real danger in the Grey Goose Breeders Juvenile tomorrow evening.

So that concludes my run down of the Lasix debate at this years Breeders Cup and my advice to all punters is to think twice before backing a horse who's running without it for the first time, especially in sprint races.Obviously the Breeders offers so much more than just Juvenile races and I will be covering the majority of the races and providing my selections over the next few hours as we lead up to the curtain call.