The Jockey Club has taken a hardline stance against the use of a controversial drug by not allowing trainer Michael Chang Chun-wai to administer it to his sprinter Rich Tapestry when he competes in the United States next month.
Chang will forge ahead with his planned two-run campaign in California, which he hopes will culminate at the lucrative Breeders' Cup meeting, despite the Jockey Club banning him from using the "anti-bleeding drug" Furosemide.
Race-day medication is banned in every major racing jurisdiction other than the United States, where Furosemide, or as it is more commonly known, Lasix, has been widely used for more than 30 years.
The drug is used to treat exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) - a condition where a horse's lungs bleed under pressure - but some experts believe Lasix is performance-enhancing, damaging to a horse's health and could be used as a masking agent for other drugs. OverS 90 per cent of American starters are on the drug.
Rich Tapestry has had four recorded instances of EIPH - the most recent at his last start in April, although not to the level that would cause a racing ban - and Chang would have used Lasix at Santa Anita if not for the Jockey Club edict.
"The club's position - that Hong Kong's horses race free of medication - is not negotiable so Michael Chang and Rich Tapestry's owner have agreed that he will not have Lasix for either of his races at Santa Anita," Jockey Club head of racing Bill Nader told the Post yesterday, before leaving no grey area surrounding the club's view on race-day medication, a hotly debated topic in world racing.
"It is unfortunate for the sport that European-based horses go year after year to the States, and especially the Breeders' Cup, and the majority of them do use Lasix on the basis they will be under a disadvantage if they don't.
"It would certainly be better for the sport as a whole if those who don't allow Lasix in their home countries took a position, wherever they raced, and refused to use it.
"Unfortunately, they don't - but in Hong Kong's case, there is no room for compromise."
Although he saw the ruling as "strict", Chang still believes his six-year-old will be competitive sans Lasix when he contests the Group One Santa Anita Sprint Championship on October 4, a "win and you're in" qualifier for the US$1.5 million Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint a month later at the same track.
Rich Tapestry will fly out on September 26, but will not start before leaving. Instead, he will trial twice, the first a belated hit-out next Monday after trials were abandoned yesterday morning because of rain.
"He is an old boy now, and we want to keep him fresh and feeling good for Santa Anita. We want to follow the same sort of preparation that worked earlier this year in Dubai," Chang said, referring to Rich Tapestry's win in the Group Three Mahab Al Shimaal in March, which was followed by a runner-up effort in the US$2 million Golden Shaheen.
