Dr. Clara Fenger

Scientifically-based screening levels and transparency in how policy is made were among key items addressed in the Kent Stirling Memorial Medication Panel, held during Wednesday's second day of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association conference at the Hotel Monteleone. The National HBPA has long advocated for scientifically-developed screening and threshold levels used to determine if a positive finding is a legitimate rules violation, or if a negligible amount was inadvertently transferred to a horse or by contamination with no pharmacological impact on the animal's performance. The topic comes to...

The Kentucky Legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations met Tuesday and took measures that allowed regulations that ban the use of Lasix in 2-year-old races this year and also in graded stakes next year to go into effect. The committee did not hold a vote, a procedure that produced the same results as if had voted to approve the regulations. Tuesday's hearing was the latest in what has been a contentious battle between pro and anti-Lasix forces in Kentucky, a fight that may now be over...