{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The Interim Joint Committee on Licensing and Occupations voted 19-1 Monday, rejecting a proposed regulation that would limit who could administer Lasix on race days and ban adjunct bleeding medications in horse racing. Many horsemen oppose the ban, which is scheduled to take effect in upper-level stakes races beginning in 2014, because Kentucky would be the only state to outlaw a medication now given to more than 90 percent of horses in U.S. races. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approved the Lasix ban by a 7-5 vote in June. Governor Steve Beshear can override the committee's vote and implement the regulation, but House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Louisville, says Beshear should think twice before doing so because of the planned ban's effect on the industry. Lawmakers will soon consider an even more controversial regulation that would institute a race-day ban on the anti-bleeding drug furosemide in some of the state's biggest races, including the Kentucky Derby.
