Inside Story

All nine horses that ran in the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar last weekend were treated with Lasix, the diuretic routinely given to thoroughbreds known as bleeders.

There’s nothing startling in that. Most horses that race in the U.S. experience exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, which usually shows in the lungs or the trachea and, in extreme cases, is visible from the nostrils. Lasix, a mysterious antidote for bleeding, is legal in California and other states, now even New York, the last of the holdouts, which approved its use three years ago.

Look at Del Mar’s daily program and you’ll see horses with the L, for Lasix, next to their names: 60 of 65 starters one day, 70 of 79 another. But if Lasix works most of the time, it’s not a panacea. The Pacific Classic, Del Mar’s biggest race, drew horses that had earned about $8 million. It would have been an even better field if Silver Charm and Mud Route had run.

Silver Charm, winner of last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness and later voted 1997’s best 3-year-old, has raced on Lasix for all but two of his 15 races, but he still bleeds. In the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar last month, he bled slightly while running last as the overwhelming 3-10 favorite.

The winner of the San Diego, Mud Route, has been a Lasix horse since he bled while running fourth in the Hollywood Gold Cup in June.

But neither Bob Baffert, who trains Silver Charm, nor Ron McAnally, Mud Route’s trainer, blamed bleeding for passing on the Pacific Classic.

Baffert said that Silver Charm’s sluggish recent performance was probably related to the antibiotics the horse received for an illness earlier this year. McAnally has said that 1 1/4 miles, the Pacific Classic distance, isn’t the best for Mud Route.

Nevertheless, they are trainers with bleeders, and they must go to every big race with fingers crossed. And at Del Mar, in McAnally’s opinion, there’s a greater chance that a horse will bleed than at Hollywood Park or Santa Anita.

“Del Mar’s been notorious for bleeders over the years,” McAnally said. “Mud Route showed a little sign [of bleeding] at Hollywood, but there’s the danger that he would bleed more here. I think it’s because we’re next to the ocean, and there’s heavier air. I exercise some when we’re down here, and I know I sweat more than I do other places.”

There have been many studies about bleeding and Lasix, all of them inconclusive.

“There are studies and then there are studies,” lamented Ray Baran, Del Mar’s presiding veterinarian. “But the reason horses bleed is still the age-old question.

“There are so many factors involved that it’s been difficult to arrive at many definite conclusions. If you do a study of horses where there’s no smog, will that hold up in an area where there is smog? All of these factors have skewed most of the research on bleeding.”

According to some physiologists, breeding horses for one thing--speed--has resulted in a breed of bleeders. When horses run all out, the tremendous amount of blood coursing through their lungs puts extreme pressure on the capillaries of the lungs and causes them to burst.

Stan L. Lindstedt, a physiologist from Arizona, points out that the pronghorn antelope is faster and sturdier than a horse. The pronghorn can run 60 mph for longer distances than a horse, whose optimum speed is about 35 mph. Yet studies of pronghorns indicate no bleeding.

Specialists in respiratory ailments can only speculate on why Lasix helps prevent bleeding. It does decrease water volume, lower a horse’s blood pressure and improve respiration. Some states, such as Kentucky, have more liberal regulations, and veterinarians there can give horses twice the dosage of Lasix permitted in California.

In Maryland, horses can’t run with Lasix unless a veterinarian has observed them bleeding, and this restriction has been problematic for horses coming out of the Kentucky Derby to run in the Preakness, two weeks later.

In 1983, the owners of Desert Wine, who had been second in the Derby, got a court order so their colt could run with Lasix in the Preakness.

In 1990, Summer Squall, who was treated with Lasix, trickled blood from the nostrils the day before the Preakness, but still won the race. Cot Campbell, who managed Summer Squall’s career for Dogwood Stable, didn’t run him three weeks later in the Belmont Stakes in New York, where Lasix was still prohibited, even though the colt had a chance to win a $1-million bonus by beating Derby winner Unbridled.

For the Belmont, with no Lasix available, the bleeder Unbridled was gradually dehydrated 24 hours before the race and fed potassium powder to maintain a high muscle tone. Unbridled finished fourth and won the $1 million for best finishes in the Triple Crown races.

In 1995, Tejano Run, after running second in the Derby, couldn’t qualify for Lasix under Maryland regulations. He bled badly at Pimlico and finished ninth.

The most infamous case of bleeding in a Triple Crown race occurred in the 1987 Kentucky Derby. Demons Begone, the favorite, bled so badly from the nostrils that jockey Pat Day’s silks were covered with blood. Day pulled up the horse after five furlongs.

The American Assn. of Equine Practitioners recommends that horses not be allowed to race for 10 days after the first bleeding incident, 20 days after a second and 60 days after a third. If there are no signs of bleeding for a year, the next bleeding incident should be considered the first.

Joe O’Dea, a former president of the AAEP and a staunch opponent of Lasix, was at the forefront of New York’s longtime refusal to legalize the drug.

“Empirical use of Lasix is without merit and dangerous,” O’Dea once said. “It lulls a horse into complacency while the true nature of a horse’s complaint is left unsettled and unresolved. Lasix is a double-edged sword. Some horses suffer serious challenges to their physiological imbalances while they are using it.”

At an international equine symposium in Dubai last year, attention was paid to bleeders. Repeated bleeding can cause a buildup of scar tissue, and veterinarians there emphasized the importance of recognizing early signs. Bleeders can be detected by an endoscopic internal examination after exercise or racing.

Dubai is a most unlikely place for a discussion on bleeding because the United Arab Emirates, along with most of the world, doesn’t permit Lasix, or other medications, for racing. Cigar and Silver Charm, American horses with reputations for bleeding, were able to win the $4-million Dubai World Cup without using Lasix. But Gentlemen bled twice in the Santa Anita Handicap and that is one reason his trainer, Richard Mandella, has never raced him in Dubai.

“It’s sad that it has become too much of a veterinarians’ game in the U.S,” said Hubert Guy, a French-born bloodstock agent and horse owner who works in California. “They should ban all medication in the U.S., as they do in Europe. The horses would be better off.”

Guy’s Bloodstock Management Services ran the British import, Albaha, in the Pacific Classic.

With Lasix.

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The Stress of Racing

Thoroughbreds are especially susceptible to bleeding from the lungs. Equine scientists don’t know the exact cause, but think bleeding occurs because of a horse’s anatomy and/or the increased volume of blood pumping through its vessels during a high-speed gallop.

How Bleeding is Treated

Furosemide, known by its brand name Lasix, is a powerful diuretic that causes fluids in the horse’s body tissue to be released and expelled in urine.

* Why it’s used: To control bleeding in the horse’s lungs, called exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.

* Harmful effects: Dehydration. Some believe Lasix may enhance performance because weight is lost due to expelled fluid.

* How it’s administered: Intravenously before a race (in California, no more than four hours before post time).

A Theory on Why a Horse Bleeds

During a full-speed gallop, intestines swing forward into the diaphragm, which is forced forward and upward, compressing the lungs. This, along with increased pressure of blood through vessels, causes lung capillaries to rupture.

Sources:California Thoroughbred Breeders Assn.; UC Davis Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory; The Blood Horse magazine; Researched by JULIE SHEER/Los Angeles Times