Three horses in this year’s Preakness Stakes will receive race-day medications that are allowed in Maryland but prohibited in nearly every other state that conducts Thoroughbred racing.

While in recent years horse racing has made strides toward drug reform and uniform medication rules, one only need look at its biggest series, the Triple Crown, to see a lack of consistency in medication rules from state to state.

Preakness starters Goldencents, Mylute, and Govenor Charlie are scheduled to receive adjunct bleeder medications before the May 18 Preakness at Pimlico Race Course, located in Baltimore. When Goldencents and Mylute started in the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands they would have been breaking Kentucky rules by receiving such drugs. Starters in the Belmont Stakes, held annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., also will not be permitted to use adjuncts as they are prohibited in New York.

The only race-day medication allowed to be administered to Kentucky Derby and Belmont starters is Salix (furosemide, also commonly referred to as Salix or Lasix) which is used to prevent or reduce the severity of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH). In those states, regulatory vets administer Salix