Lasix-free Bonus Program pays out on opening weekend

Souixper Charger became the first Lasix-free Bonus winner of the Oaklawn Park meeting on Jan. 25 and the 27th winner since the track began the program in 2015.

The 3-year-old son of Portobello Road ran a 4 3/4-length maiden victory for trainer Al Cates, of Hot Springs, and owner Eugenia Thompson-Benight, of Sheridan. It was his second career start in the Arkansas-bred maiden special weights spring.

The colt debuted on Lasix and finished 11th in a stout maiden special weights sprint on Oct. 25 at Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky. Cates said Souixper Charger was not taken off Lasix because of the bonus.

Souixper Charger earned an additional 10 percent of the winner’s share, $4,620, for the victory. The purse was originally $77,000, with $46,200 going to the winner.

“Now, I’m glad we got the bonus; don’t get me wrong,” Cates said. “I had him in Kentucky.

“Of course, we train them on Lasix a time or two to kind of let them get used to it. Every time I worked him on Lasix, he didn’t work like I thought he could. One time I worked him with a horse I thought he would beat and didn’t.”

Cates said he and Thompson-Benight then decided to work Souixper Charger with and without Lasix after arriving at Oaklawn and compare the results. Cates said the colt breezed much sharper without the anti-bleeder medication.

“We’d been off it either way,” Cates said. “At some point, we may have to go on it; may have no choice.”

Oaklawn announced in September 2014 it would become the country’s first track to offer a purse incentive for horses that ran and won without Lasix during the 2015 meeting.

The Lasix-free Bonus Program offers a 10 percent hike to the winner’s share of the purse for horses that win without Lasix, which was not legalized at Oaklawn on race day until the late 1980s, long after other major jurisdictions.

In a news release announcing the bonus, track President Charles Cella called Oaklawn’s program “experimental” and said he hoped it would inspire more owners and trainers to race their horses without Lasix. The vast majority of horses run on Lasix.

Oaklawn had five Lasix-free winners in 2015, four in 2016, five in 2017 and 12 last year, according to data provided by the track.

The 27 Lasix-free winners have totaled $68,340 in bonuses to date, funds that come from the track and not its purse account.

Souixper Charger was the first horse Cates had started at Keeneland. The winner and runner-up in that October race, Boldor and Super Steed, returned to finish third and seventh, respectively, in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 25, Oaklawn’s first of four major Kentucky Derby preps.

Cates said Souixper Charger’s major Oaklawn objective is the $100,000 Rainbow Stakes for Arkansas-bred 3-year-olds at 6 furlongs on April 20.