Donald Leschied

The Appellants, licensed standardbred trainers and owners, applied for stays of Orders of Immediate Suspension and holds on their purse monies.

The suspensions and holds were issued following an investigation alleging they facilitated the participation of a suspended trainer in racing activities.

The Ontario Racing Commission denied the stay applications, finding a reasonable prospect of conviction based on circumstantial evidence, including telephone records and witness statements.

The Commission held that proceeding with the Notices was in the public interest and that the Appellants failed to demonstrate exceptional circumstances justifying a stay.

The appellants appealed Orders of Immediate Suspension issued by the Executive Director of the Ontario Racing Commission.

In this interim decision regarding disclosure, the Vice Chair reviewed unredacted notebook entries of an investigator to determine if further disclosure was required.

The Vice Chair concluded that the redacted portions contained information clearly irrelevant to the proceedings and ordered no further disclosure.

The appellants, standardbred licensees, appealed orders of immediate suspension issued by the Executive Director of the Ontario Racing Commission.

As a preliminary matter, the appellants sought a review of all redactions in the disclosure materials, including a Senior Judges Report and investigators' notebook entries.

The Vice Chair reviewed the unredacted materials and found that most of the redacted information was irrelevant.

However, the Administration was ordered to provide unredacted notebook entries for 17 days to the panel for review, and to review and disclose relevant information from four additional days of unredacted material.