Novak: McLaughlin experiments with Salix-free juveniles

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has quietly been experimenting with running two-year-olds without anti-bleeding medication, reports Claire Novak for ESPN.  Novak says four times during the Saratoga meet, McLaughlin-trained juveniles racing for the Darley and Shadwell Stables went postward without Salix (Lasix).  One of the two-year-olds – a Darley runner named Alpha – won:

“There's so much talk of no Lasix, we decided not to run them on it until they need it,” McLaughlin said Monday at the upstate oval. “No one told me I had to do this, I decided it…”

“The last two years it wasn't this hot topic of 'No Lasix!' but the way things are going now you have to be prepared,” McLaughlin explained. “We're just trying to prepare ourselves and get some confidence. We just started with the two-year-olds, we'll see how it goes. We're just doing our own little thing in-house.”

The trainer said he's seen no ill effects from running without Salix so far, but he will continue to monitor the juveniles.