The Ontario Racing Commission at its meeting of Thursday, September 24, 2009, resolved that the following directive be approved, effective immediately.
PENALTY GUIDELINES RULE 22.23
Any violation of Rule 22.23, to include subsections 22.23.01, 22.23.02, 22.23.03 and 22.23.04 is an offence and covered by this penalty structure.
OFFENCE – Inappropriate urging of the horse
1st offence | |
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Min Fine | $200 |
Minimum Driving Suspension | 3 days |
Other Penalty | Mandatory meeting with the Stewards for the purposes of providing training on the Rules. |
2nd offence within one year of the 1st offence | |
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Min Fine | $300 |
Minimum Driving Suspension | 5 days |
Other Penalty | Mandatory meeting with the Stewards for the purposes of providing training on the Rules. |
3rd offence within one year of the 1st offence | |
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Min Fine | $500 |
Minimum Driving Suspension | 15 days |
Other Penalty | Mandatory meeting with the Stewards for the purposes of providing training on the Rules. |
4th offence within one year of the 1st offence | |
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Min Fine | $500 |
Minimum Driving Suspension | Immediate Suspension |
Other Penalty | Referral to the Director. |
OFFENCE – Cutting or Welting the horse
1st offence | |
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Min Fine | $300 |
Minimum Driving Suspension | 10 days |
Other Penalty | Mandatory meeting with the Stewards for the purposes of providing training on the Rules. |
2nd offence within one year of the 1st offence | |
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Min Fine | $500 |
Minimum Driving Suspension | 15 days |
Other Penalty | Mandatory meeting with the Stewards for the purposes of providing training on the Rules. |
3rd offence within one year of the 1st offence | |
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Min Fine | |
Minimum Driving Suspension | Immediate Suspension |
Other Penalty | Referral to the Director. |
Application of the Guidelines will take into consideration the following:
DESCRIPTION OF TERMS
This Policy was established to provide more description of what constitutes an offence under the Rules regarding inappropriate urging of the horse in Ontario racing:
Indiscriminate action means unrestrained or careless activity without regard for safety or care.
For the purposes of Rule 22.23.01 (a), the following are examples of indiscriminate action but do not constitute an exhaustive list:
Excessive action means unreasonable quantity or degree.
For the purposes of Rule 22.23.01 (b), the following are examples of excessive action with respect to inappropriate urging of the horse but does not constitute an exhaustive list:
Aggressive action means inhumane, severe or brutal activity.
For the purposes of Rule 22.23.01 (c), the following are examples of aggressive action but do not constitute an exhaustive list:
Loose lining means the indiscriminate action of carelessly lengthening the lines while driving so as to allow the loopy shaking of the lines (i.e. butterfly action) or to permit the arm to swing past a 90-degree angle to affect a wide arch when using the whip or shaking the lines.
Meaningful Position (22.23.02) means the horse has a reasonable opportunity to finish in an advantageous position. Examples of meaningful include, but are not limited to, maintaining qualifying times, receiving points towards future races or earning purse monies.
Confines of the wheels (22.23.03c) means that any part of the whip cannot move outside of a line which runs parallel to the horse from a point prescribed by the outside of the race bike wheel.
BACKGROUND
Under a process established by the Executive Director in the fall of 2008 to gather industry input on the appropriate use of the whip in horse racing, it was recognized that the use of the whip is a necessary tool in racing.
The following principles were agreed to and serve as a guide for all decision making on rule development:
The outcome of the industry discussion has led to the formation of rules regarding the appropriate methods for urging a horse in racing and changes to driving styles to require a hand in each line for the entire race.
Loose lining: It was stressed by the participants that this change to driving style should not lead to the practice of “loose lining”, which means the indiscriminate action of carelessly lengthening the lines while driving so as to allow the loopy shaking of the lines (butterfly action) or permit the arm to swing past the 90 degree to effect a wide arch when using the whip. It was agreed that these would be the type of actions counter to the intent of the rule changes and would present an undesirable product to the wagering public.