Preamble
WHEREAS after consulting with the public and industry with respect to proposed rule changes and consistent with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO)’s movement towards standards-based rules, there was favorable support in the Standardbred industry to revise the current rules and implement a ban on race day medication, with exception of Furosemide properly administered in accordance with the Ontario Standardbred Exercise Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH) Program;
AND WHEREAS this rule is not intended to prohibit normal, non-medicated feedstuffs (natural feed such as oats, sweet feed, pellets, hay and hay cubes) and water, non medicated shampoos and topical applications, hoof oils/dressings;
AND WHEREAS this rule will enhance the health and safety of horses and participants, and the integrity of racing;
TAKE NOTICE that the Registrar hereby orders the Rules of Standardbred Racing be amended as follows effective April 19, 2019:
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6.53 No person shall administer, attempt to administer, or cause to be administered, any medication or substance by a nasogastric tube to a horse on race day prior to its race, m cept for emergency treatment, which treatment will result in the horse being scratched from the race.
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8.11 A veterinarian may be held wholly or partially responsible if any drug, substance or medication administered or prescribed by him/her results in:
and, if held wholly or partially responsible, may be assessed a monetary penalty and/or suspended by the Judges.
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26.02.03 Notwithstanding 26.02.01, the Commission and all delegated officials shall consider the following to be absolute liability violations:
By the order of the Registrar
Jean Major
Registrar
Preamble
WHEREAS after consulting with the public and industry with respect to proposed rule changes there was favorable support in the Standardbred industry to revise the current rules to expand instances where claims would be invalidated to include when a horse dies on the racetrack, or suffers an injury which requires euthanasia while on the racetrack.
AND WHEREAS this rule will enhance the health and safety of horses and participants, and the integrity of racing;
TAKE NOTICE that the Registrar hereby orders the Rules of Standardbred Racing be amended as follows effective April 20, 2019:
15.20.01
The Judges, at the option of the claimant, shall rule a claim invalid:
BY THE ORDER OF THE REGISTRAR
Jean Major
Registrar
WHEREAS after meeting with industry stakeholders and responding to requests to consider revising the current rules and Directives with respect to urging and specifically that use of the whip be limited to wrist action only;
AND WHEREAS this rule will enhance the health and safety of horses and participants, and the integrity of racing;
AND WHEREAS enforcement of the revisions will commence at Woodbine Mohawk Park, the revisions will be phased in across all Standardbred racetracks in Ontario at dates to be determined;
TAKE NOTICE that the Registrar rescinds Policy Directive No. 5-2009: Penalty Guidelines for Inappropriate Urging of a Horse in Standardbred Racing and hereby orders the Rules of Standardbred Racing be amended commencing June 3, 2019:
22.23.03 At any time while on the grounds of an Association, it is a violation of the Rules for a driver, or the person in control of the horse, to use the whip to hit or make contact with the horse as follows:
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 a violation and covered by this penalty structure.
1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
$200 |
Minimum Driving Suspension |
3 days |
Other Penalty |
Mandatory meeting with the Judges for the purposes of providinQ traininq on the Rules |
2nd violation within one year of the 1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
$300 |
Minimum Driving Suspension |
5 days |
Other Penalty |
Mandatory meeting with the Judges for the purposes of providing training on the Rules |
3rd violation within one year of the 1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
$500 |
Minimum Driving Suspension |
15 days |
Other Penalty |
Mandatory meeting with the Judges for the purposes of providing training on the Rules |
4th violation within one year of the 1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
|
Minimum Driving Suspension |
Immediate Suspension |
Other Penalty |
Referral to the Director |
VIOLATION - Cutting or Welting the horse
1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
$300 |
Minimum Driving Suspension |
10 days |
Other Penalty |
Mandatory meeting with the Judges for the purposes of providing training on the
Rules |
2nd violation within one year of the 1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
$500 |
Minimum Driving Suspension |
15 days |
Other Penalty |
Mandatory meeting with the Judges for the purposes of providing training on the Rules |
3rd violation within one year of the 1st violation |
|
---|---|
Minimum Fine |
|
Minimum Driving Suspension |
Immediate suspension |
Other Penalty |
Referral to the Director |
Races with a purse of $100,000 and over |
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For any violation that takes place in a race where the purse is $100,000 or more, the penalty shall be a minimum fine of 20% of the driver’s earnings for placings 1st through 5th and shall be a minimum fine equivalent to 20% of the driver’s earnings for 5th place for placings 6th and on. If in the opinion of the Judges, the violation was egregious, a driving suspension may be issued. While discretion is available to the Judges, the driving suspension should be calculated at 1 day driving suspension for each $200,000 of total purse money for the race. |
For a violation where a driver has driven with both lines in one hand and struck the horse with the whip, the Judges shall place the horse last. |
Placing of a horse may be considered by the Judges where the misuse of the whip caused interference with another horse or, in the opinion of the Judges, there has been a flagrant disregard for these rules. |
Application of the Guidelines will take into consideration the following:
This Policy was established to provide more description of what constitutes a violation 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).
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.
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). 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.
BY THE ORDER OF THE REGISTRAR
Jean Major
Registrar
WHEREAS as of January 26, 2010, Terry BROOKS (#7306T0), Jeffrey BROOKS (#6368T7) and Andrew BROOKS (#962K25) were licensed as Owners under the Racing Commission Act, 2000, S.). 2000, c.20 (the “RCA”), and Rules of Standardbred Racing as amended;
AND WHEREAS as of January 26, 2010, Victoria BROOKS (#718K13) had recently applied for and received a stable licence effective January 11, 2010;
AND WHEREAS as of January 26, 2010, BULLETPROOF ENTERPRISES (#862K92), GOLDFINGER ENTERPRISES (#301L09), SEIZE THE DAY INDUSTRIES (#065L81), VAE LLC (#374J40) were stables associated with one or more of Terry BROOKS, Jeffrey BROOKS, Andrew BROOKS and Victoria BROOKS (together, the “Licensees”);
AND WHEREAS on January 26, 2010, the Director, Ontario Racing Commission (“Director”) found that (a) there were reasonable ground to believe that, while the Licensees carry out the activities for which a licence is required, the Licensees will not act in accordance with the law, or with integrity, honesty, or in the public interest, having regard to the past conduct of the Licensees; (b) the Licensees’ conduct has placed the integrity of the horse racing industry in Ontario in question; and (c) the public interest required that the Licensees be suspended immediately (the “Order for Immediate Suspension”);
AND WHEREAS on January 26, 2010, the Director issued Standardbred Ruling Number S.B. 14/2010 (the “Freeze Order”) whereby he ordered that all Associations hold, freeze and maintain all funds, purse accounts or other monies related to the Licensees and Perfect World Enterprises (#185E79);
AND WHEREAS on or about January 26, 2010, Woodbine Entertainment Group froze funds held on behalf of the Licensees in the amount of $809,566.38 pursuant to the Freeze Order (the “Frozen Purse Monies”);
AND WHEREAS on February 2, 2010, the Director issues a Notice of Proposed Order to suspend the Licensees;
AND WHEREAS on February 10, 201o, the Licensees requested a hearing before the Ontario Racing Commission;
AND WHEREAS on or December 20, 2010, Anderson & Goodrow Equine Veterinary Professional Corp. and Doyle Bloodstock Transportation Inc., creditors of the BULLETPROOF ENTERPRISES INC., each filed Notices of Garnishment in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice - Toronto Small Claims Court, listing Woodbine Entertainment Group as Garnishee (Court File No. SC-10-110002-00 and Court File No. SC10-95124-00, respectively);
AND WHEREAS on March 30, 2011, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice - Toronto Small Claims Court ordered that Woodbine Entertainment Group pay $45,511.68 of the Frozen Purse Monies into court pending the resolution of proceedings commenced pursuant to the Notice of Proposed Order and Hearing dated February 2, 2010;
AND WHEREAS on or about April 7, 2011, Woodbine Entertainment Group accordingly paid $45,511.68 of the Frozen Purse Monies into the Ontario Superior Court of Justice - Toronto Small Claims Court pursuant to its Order dated March 30, 2011 (the “Small Claims Monies”);
AND WHEREAS on April 30, 2013, the Ontario Racing Commission resolved proceedings arising out of the Notice of Proposed Order dated February 2, 201o as against GOLDFINGER ENTERPRISES (#301L09), SEIZE THE DAY INDUSTRIES (#065L81), VAE LLC (#374J40), Terry BROOKS, Andrew BROOKS and Victoria BROOKS in exchange for the payments of fines and forfeiture of certain purses that are not subject to the Forfeiture Order (defined below);
AND WHEREAS in Reasons for Decision dated August 29, 2013, a Panel of the Ontario Racing Commission found that Jeffrey Brooks and BULLETPROOF ENTERPRISES had contravened Rules 6.13.01, 3.09, 6.13.01 and 6.20 of the Rules of Standardbred Racing;
AND WHEREAS in Reasons for Decision dated August 29, 2013, a Panel of the Ontario Racing Commission granted an order declaring the ineligibility of the following horses to race and to compete for purse money and disqualifying as ineligible the horses raced by BULLETPROOF ENTERPRISES in Ontario in 2009 and 2010 as follows:
Horses Raced in 2009
Horses Raced in 2010
AND WHEREAS in Reasons for Decision dated August 29, 2013, a Panel of the Ontario Racing Commission ordered that any purse funds by the named horses being held under the Freeze Order be forfeited by the Applicants and redistributed amongst the owners entitled pursuant to the rules of racing (the “Forfeiture Order”);
AND WHEREAS Rule 18.08.03 provides for the re-seeding of placement and re distribution of purse monies in the event of a disqualification;
AND WHEREAS the Forfeiture Order affects the seeding of 1,025 races in 2009 and 201O (the “Affected Races”);
AND WHEREAS in April 2016, the powers and duties of the Ontario Racing Commission were transferred to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (“AGCO”) and the Registrar (“Registrar”) upon the proclamation into force of the Horse Racing Licence Act, 2015, S.O 2015, c. 38.
AND WHEREAS by January 2018, Jeffrey BROOKS and BULLETPROOF ENTERPRISES had exhausted all avenues to appeal the Forfeiture Order, appeals to the Divisional Court and Ontario Court of Appeal having been dismissed and the time for applying for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada having expired;
AND WHEREAS the re-seeding and re-distribution in accordance with Rule 18.08.03 would require the identification, notification and participation of each owner, trainer and driver entitled to participate in the purse distribution with respect to every horse that participated in every one of the Affected Races;
AND WHEREAS the passage of time in the period since the Affected Races occurred in 2009 and 2010, and during the pendency of the hearing and appeal process, has prejudiced the Registrar’s ability to accurately identify, locate and direct payment of the appropriate share of the purse distributions to the participants;
AND WHEREAS the Registrar has determined that it is in the best interest of racing to direct the Frozen Purse Monies to the benefit of the Ontario racing industry as a whole and not to unwind all of the purse distributions from the Affected Races;
AND WHEREAS the Registrar has the power to govern, direct, control and regulate horse racing in Ontario in any or all of its forms, and to govern, control and regulate the operation of race tracks in Ontario at which any form of horse racing is carried on, pursuant to section 2 of the Horse Racing License Act, 2015;
AND WHEREAS the Commission, through the Registrar, has the authority to make rules for the conduct of horse racing, including the Rules of Standardbred Racing and General and Standardbred Directives;
AND WHEREAS the Registrar has the absolute discretion to waive the application of the Rules pursuant to his statutory authority and as confirmed in Rule 1.09 of the Rules of Standardbred Racing;
NOW THEREFORE TAKE NOTICE that the Registrar orders and directs as follows:
BY THE ORDER OF THE REGISTRAR
Jean Major
Registrar