
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990                   TAG: 9005080130
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ETC.

A University of Pennsylvania study shows that Lasix improves a race horse's performance but does not always have the desired effect.

The study, commissioned and funded by the Jockey Club in New York, was the first to test the effect of the medication called furosemide, used to control bleeding in horses.

The Penn research team, headed by veterinarians Corinne Raphel Sweeney, Lawrence Soma and Abbey Maxson, administered Lasix to 76 non-bleeders at Philadelphia Park Racetrack during the 1988-89 racing season. Using three races in the study - two without the medication being applied, the third with it - the researchers found an improvement of 0.48 seconds or 2.4 lengths for a one-mile race when Lasix was used. The greatest gain was found in geldings, whose performance improved by 1.08 seconds or 5.4 lengths.

In a related test, the researchers also found the racing performance of 52 bleeders also was improved when Lasix was applied, although not by as much as the non-bleeders. The average improvement among the bleeders was .26 seconds or 1.3 lengths, with geldings again displaying the best gains.

In each case, colts showed minimal or no gains.

by CNB