Alicia Wincze Hughes on horse racing

Despite Friday’s announcement that the American Graded Stakes Committee would not move forward with plans to implement a ban on race-day medication in graded stakes races for 2-year-olds in 2012, officials with Breeders’ Cup Ltd. said Saturday the organization has no current plans to alter its decision to prohibit the race-day use of the anti-bleeder medication Lasix in its juvenile races this year.

The decision by the American Graded Stakes Committee was prompted by a collective lack of action as none of the jurisdictions which hold graded stakes races for juveniles have moved forward with the proposed Lasix ban.

Breeders’ Cup chairman Tom Ludt said Saturday its board members will likely have a discussion on the matter at its next meeting but doesn’t necessarily foresee a change in that directive for this year’s two-day World Championships, which are slated to be held at Santa Anita Park on November 2 and 3rd.

“We had heard rumblings (about the AGSC stance) for a while but I don’t think it has any impact on us for California,” Ludt said. “We have it set up with the California board and… I don’t see why we would change our stance. We are in a unique situation where as the Graded Stakes Committee is crossing many state lines.We haven’t talked about it yet and I’m sure we’ll have a lively debate about it. I don’t think we’ll have any change of stance, but I don’t know.”

In addition to banning Lasix in this year’s juvenile contests, Breeders’ Cup Ltd. also plans to prohibit the use of  race-day medications in all of its races by 2013. If the racing jurisdictions continue to drag their feet and the majority of horsemen remain opposed to the ban, Ludt said Breeders’ Cup might have to take a harder look at its position.

“Again, I haven’t talked to the board members about it but if it became a big issue and it never went anywhere, we’d have to talk about it and address it,” Ludt said. “That doesn’t mean we’d change our vote. But going forward into 2013, if this thing doesn’t gain enough momentum to have an impact, we’d have to talk about it.”