February 27, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Medication for Racehorses
I was surprised when attending the US racecourse Monmouth Park in New Jersey, that the programme showed that many of the horses were running on certain allowed medications, such as “Bute” and “Lasix”. As far as I’m aware racehorses are not allowed to run on medication in the UK.
I was familiar with Bute as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory, but not with Lasix so I did some research and found out that Lasix is used to reduce problems with broken blood vessels. Apparently most racehorses have some blood vessel damage due to the force of the internal organs being propelled forward as the horse strides forward.
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March 4th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Yes, lasix is used for horses they call “bleeders.” Blood runs out their nostril from racing. They approved the use of lasix years ago. I don’t know about the bute.
March 8th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Bute is an abbreviation for phenylbutazone, which is the same family of drugs as aspirin.
I also found in Wikepedia that the 1968 Kentucky Derby winner, Dancer’s Image, was disqualified after traces of phenylbutazone were discovered in a post-race urinalysis. It was legal on most tracks around the country in 1968 but had not yet been approved by Churchill Downs. Dancer’s Image remains the only horse in history to win the Kentucky Derby and then be disqualified.