Major horse tracks to ban race-day use of Lasix
ARCADIA, Calif. — All three hosts of the Triple Crown were among several major horse-racing tracks that agreed Thursday to phase out the use of a common anti-bleeding medication starting next year — a move that was sparked by the deaths of 23 horses in three months at Santa Anita Race Park.
Starting in 2020, 2-yearold horses will not be allowed to be treated with the drug Lasix within 24 hours of racing. Lasix, formally known as furosemide, is a diuretic given to horses on race days to prevent pulmonary bleeding.
In 2021, the ban would extend to all horses running in any stakes races at tracks in the newly announced coalition. That is the year the Triple Crown would be run for the first time under the new medication rules. Churchill Downs, Pimlico and Belmont are host to the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
Lasix has not been linked to any horse deaths, but critics of the sport have cited its use in calling for the end of race-day medication. Outside North America, most countries ban race-day medication.
In the U.S., 38 states regulate horse racing, but the sport lacks a common set of rules enforced by a single entity. Previous efforts to ban Lasix on race days have fallen apart because of a lack of consensus.
Other tracks participating in the coalition are Aqueduct and Saratoga in New York, California’s Del Mar and Los Alamitos, Gulfstream and Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, Arlington International outside Chicago, Keeneland in Kentucky, Laurel in Maryland, Lone Star in Texas, Fair Grounds in Louisiana, Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania, Remington in Oklahoma and Oaklawn in Arkansas.
Culver leaving Tech for NBA
Big 12 player of the year Jarrett Culver declared for the NBA draft after helping lead his hometown Texas Tech Red Raiders on the two deepest NCAA Tournament runs in school history.
Culver’s on-campus announcement came 10 days after Texas Tech finished the season with an overtime loss to Virginia in the national championship game. The Red Raiders went to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time last season when Culver was a freshman.
The 6-6 guard led Tech with 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists a game
Rice center says he will transfer
Rice men’s coach Scott Pera said that center Quentin Millora-Brown, who averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds as a freshman this past season, will transfer to another school.
“He felt this wasn’t the place for him,” said Pera, who for the third consecutive offseason will lose a player opting to transfer.
Pera also is losing assistant coach Chris Kreider, who will take a similar position at Georgia State. In other news:
• Southern Mississippi hired Jay Ladner as its new men’s coach. Ladner was the coach at Southeastern Louisiana the last five years and led the Lions to a Southland Conference regular-season title in 2018.
Lowry’s 65 leads at RBC Heritage
Shane Lowry shot a 6-under-par 65 take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
and Ryan Palmer were tied for second.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson, coming off a second-place tie at Masters last week, rallied with two birdies in his final seven holes for a 68, leaving him three shot back.
Lowry had not broken 70 in a stroke-play event since a 67 in the third round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am in early February on his way to missing the cut.
In other news:
• Eun-Hee Ji rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 18th with a pitch-in eagle on the par-5 first to shoot a 7-under 65 and take a two-stroke lead over Nelly Korda in the Lotte Championship at Kapolei, Hawaii. Ji had a 15-under 129 total to break the tournament’s 36-hole record by five strokes.
Nadal, Djokovic win in Monaco
Defending champion Rafael Nadal and topranked Novak Djokovic eased into the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals, remaining on course to meet in the final of the clay-court tournament they long have dominated.
The two rivals, who share 32 Grand Slam titles, could meet for a 54th time. They have won every tournament in Monaco since 2005 except for 2014.
After the 15-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic beat unseeded American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-0, the 17-time major winner Nadal handed Grigor Dimitrov yet another defeat, beating him 6-4, 6-1 in a repeat score of last year’s semifinal between the two.
MVP Stewart to miss season
Reigning WNBA most valuable player Breanna Stewart underwent surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. The Seattle Storm said Stewart is expected to be fully recovered for the start of the 2020 WNBA season. Stewart suffered the injury while playing for Russian club Dynamo Kursk on Sunday in the EuroLeague Women championship game in Hungary. Stewart has played overseas in the offseason since she joined the WNBA. … Dallas Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. underwent surgery for a stress fracture in his lower left leg and is expected to resume basketball activities before the start of training camp in September. … Memphis Grizzlies forward Kyle Anderson underwent surgery on his right shoulder and is expected to basketball activities in advance of training camp. … An Ohio State spokesman confirmed that quarterback Matthe w Baldwin intends to transfer. The school said the redshirt freshman from Austin Lake Travis entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal. Baldwin competed in spring practice with Justin Fields, a highly touted Georgia transfer who is the favorite to win the starting job this fall. The Texan spent much of last season rehabbing from a knee injury suffered in his last high school game in 2017.