Doing this in small and, I hope, manageable bites, a presentation or two at a time.

Following a morning in which the focus was on the basics of EIPH (exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage) and the effects of furosemide (Lasix/Salix), lunchtime and afternoon sessions were devoted to an exploration of international and North American perspectives on EIPH and its management.

Bill Nader and Denis Egan both spoke at length about the racing environments, literal and figurative, in their countries, both of which emphasized the many differences between how racing is conducted there and in the United States.

Nader is a former NYRA CEO who left in 2007 to become the executive director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club; Egan is the Chief Executive of the Irish Turf Club and an accountant by profession.

In Hong Kong, all elements of racing come under the central authority of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.  Training and racing information such as daily workout information, horses’ weight and veterinary history, and past performances is scrupulously collected and recorded, and the HKJC has its own laboratory that does all of its testing work. As Nader noted, racing is Hong Kong has no competition from other sports, which contributes to its extraordinarily high handle. According to Nader, it is routine to do $100M (US) in handle for an eight-race Wednesday night program.

With that central authority, said Nader, comes great responsibility, and integrity is held in the highest regard. As evidence of the HKJC’s attention to integrity, he cited a race that took place on June 8 in which a jockey was determined not to have taken “reasonable and permissible measures” to win. The horse had won its last race and was expected to race midfield; instead, the horse contested the pace and finished 11^th as the second betting favorite. The jockey, trainer, and two owners of the horse were questioned before the jockey was given a five-week suspension.

Nader also noted that if horse bleeds or suffers a heart irregularity in a race, that information is announced publicly within an hour.

Egan offered a variety of statistics about Irish racing: number of racing days, number of flat vs. jump starters, average start per horse per year (Egan’s PowerPoint is available here). He offered perspectives that appeared to be largely anecdotal, the result, he said, of discussions with trainers.

According to Egan, Irish trainers believe that bleeders are bred and that bleeding is the result of genetic problems. They also believe that stress is a major cause of bleeding, and among the ways they try to minimize horses’ stress is to keep them calm and gallop them before running them; to withhold food before working them; to make sure that they have a good groom; and to use a small amount of Lasix during morning workouts “to build confidence.”

He also stressed the importance of a clean and dust free environment to avoid upper respiratory tract infections, of making sure that bedding and feed are “top class,” and of “airflow” in a stable.

While Irish trainers will use Lasix during training (though, according to Egan, less than 10% of horses in training get Lasix), Egan stated that they do not want to use it as a race day medication because of the perceptions that it influences the results of competition and offers an unfair advantage over unmedicated horses. He characterized Lasix as a performance enhancer because it reduces the possibility of bleeding and because bleeding is an “acknowledged cause of deficiency in performance capacity and capability.”

Egan warned that if U.S. horsemen are “serious about the breed,” they should “eliminate lasix or face the consequences,” which he identified as the “disimproving” of stallion quality and damage to the gene pool, resulting in the loss of European buyers of North American-bred horses.

Next up: International and domestic perspectives on race day medication and management of EIPH.