Don Bourgeois

The appellant, a standardbred owner, driver, and trainer, appealed a decision of the Ontario Racing Industry Board of Appeal that upheld a three-day driving suspension for violating Rule 22.05(g)(i) of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.

After hearing evidence from multiple witnesses, the Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal.

The reasons for the decision were delivered orally and form part of the hearing transcript.

The appellant, a standardbred owner, driver, and trainer, appealed a three-day driving suspension for violating Rule 22.05(h) of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.

The Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal and upheld the suspension.

The Commission's reasons for decision were delivered orally and form part of the hearing transcript.

Standardbred Driver/Trainer Mark Williams appealed a decision of the Ontario Racing Industry Board of Appeal, which had upheld a $500 fine for a violation of Rule 18.08(a) of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.

The Ontario Racing Commission heard the appeal, upheld the finding of the rule violation, but varied the penalty to a $200 fine.

Thoroughbred jockey Raymond Sabourin and owner Arthur Silvera appealed a Stewards' ruling that suspended Sabourin for 20 days for careless riding and disqualified their horse from first place.

The incident involved Sabourin's horse clipping heels with another horse, causing the other horse to fall and its jockey to sustain injuries.

The Ontario Racing Commission reviewed video evidence and witness testimony, concluding that Sabourin's horse interfered with the other horse by moving across its path without sufficient clearance.

The Commission upheld the disqualification but reduced the suspension to 15 days.

A standardbred veterinarian appealed a 15-day suspension for failing to report the death of a racehorse within two days, as required by the death registry provisions of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.

The Commission found that the veterinarian did not learn of the horse's death until five days after it occurred.

Applying the doctrine of strict construction to the regulatory provision, the Commission concluded it was impossible for the veterinarian to comply with the rule's temporal limits based on his actual knowledge.

The appeal was granted and the suspension quashed, though the Commission strongly criticized the veterinarian's conduct and failure to report the death once he became aware of it.

The Ontario Racing Commission convened to hear applications for 2004 live and intertrack race dates from various racetracks.

The Commission approved the requested dates for Woodbine, Fort Erie, Picov Downs, Mohawk, Sudbury Downs, Kawartha Downs, Quinte Exhibition, Flamboro Downs, Georgian Downs, Grand River, Hanover, Windsor, and Dresden.

Applications for Hiawatha, Clinton, Woodstock, Western Fair, and Rideau Carleton were deferred pending further submissions and review of materials filed by the Ontario Harness Horse Association.

The appellant appealed a Judges' decision to place his horse from 1st to 3rd position under Rule 22.27(c) of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.

The Ontario Racing Commission heard testimony and dismissed the appeal, providing oral reasons.

The appellant, a standardbred owner and trainer, appealed a Judges' decision that the horses in a race at Woodstock Raceway were given a fair start.

The Ontario Racing Commission heard testimony and dismissed the appeal, providing oral reasons for its decision.

The appellant, a standardbred owner, driver, and trainer, appealed the severity of a penalty imposed by the Judges for a violation of Rule 22.38 of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.

The original penalty consisted of a $1,500 fine and a 120-day full suspension.

Following a hearing, the Ontario Racing Commission varied the penalty, maintaining the $1,500 fine but reducing the full suspension to 90 days.

Standardbred trainer Carl Jamieson appealed the judges' decision to scratch his horse from a stakes race for arriving 10 minutes late to the retention barn.

The trainer argued that traffic delays justified an exception and that the deadline was merely a policy.

The Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal, finding that the trainer was responsible for meeting the time limit, traffic delays were foreseeable, and the deadline was a clear condition of the race.

The applicant, a veterinarian, brought a motion for an order summarily allowing his appeal and setting aside a ruling that fined him for incorrectly labeling diazepam with a 36-hour withdrawal time.

The applicant argued that a previous Commission decision involving another veterinarian had already determined the issue.

The Commission dismissed the motion, finding that a genuine issue for hearing existed because the horse in this case was concurrently taking omeprazole, which could affect the clearance time, and because new information regarding clearance times may have become available since the previous decision.

The appellant, a thoroughbred owner, appealed a Stewards' Ruling that voided the claim of a horse.

The claim was voided because one of the partners in the claiming stable was previously suspended, rendering him ineligible to participate in Ontario.

The Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal, confirming that the horse must be returned to its previous owner.

The applicant requested a hearing after his nominations for several horse racing events were rejected by the Woodbine Entertainment Group for being postmarked after the deadline.

The applicant argued that the delay was due to a snowstorm and postal issues.

The Ontario Racing Commission found it had jurisdiction to hear the matter but declined to waive the breach of the postmark rule, emphasizing the need for objectivity and certainty in the nomination process.

The nominations were not accepted.

A thoroughbred veterinarian appealed a Stewards Ruling fining him $1,500 for failing to properly label a bottle of Valium before dispensing it, in violation of Rule 27.20.

The veterinarian admitted to omitting required information on the label but contested the finding that his recommended 36-hour withdrawal time violated the rule.

The Ontario Racing Commission found that the 36-hour recommendation was reasonable based on clinical experience and the information available in 2000.

However, the Commission upheld the $1,500 fine due to the serious nature of dispensing improperly labeled drugs.

The applicant sought judicial review of the Ontario Racing Commission's decision to suspend him for 74 days and fine him $1,000 for an equine drug violation.

The applicant argued he was denied procedural fairness and that the penalty was unreasonable, as the respondent treated his prior offences differently than in a previous hearing.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding no denial of procedural fairness and concluding that the penalty was within the applicable guidelines and not patently unreasonable.

The appellants appealed the claiming of the horse STRANGER for $15,000 at Mohawk Raceway.

The Ontario Racing Commission granted the appeal, reversed and voided the claim, and ordered the horse returned to its recorded owners.

The owners of a three-year-old trotting colt appealed a decision by the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association (OHRIA) excluding the colt from the 2003 Ontario Sires Stakes Program for failure to make a sustaining payment.

The owners argued that the sudden death of the managing partner, who had failed to properly register the ownership transfer, constituted extenuating circumstances justifying an exception.

The Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal by a majority decision, finding that the remaining owners had ample opportunity to ensure the payment was made and that the circumstances did not warrant waiving the program's conditions.

The applicant moved for a stay pending the hearing of his application for judicial review of a decision by the Ontario Racing Commission.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the application was essentially an attempt to appeal on the facts, the applicant failed to demonstrate irreparable harm, and there was a four-month delay in bringing the application.

Standardbred owner, driver, and trainer Orlie Coville appealed a Judges' Ruling that fined him $1,500 and suspended him for 60 days following two positive drug tests for ephedrine and related substances in his horses.

The Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal, ratifying the $1,500 fine and the 60-day suspension, but ordered that the last 30 days of the suspension be stayed.

The licensee, a standardbred owner, trainer, and driver, sought reinstatement of his licences after they were suspended due to a positive test for a cocaine metabolite.

The licensee had a history of human drug violations and was on probation at the time of the positive test.

He claimed he did not intentionally ingest cocaine and suggested his drink may have been spiked at a party.

The Ontario Racing Commission rejected this theory, concluding the drug was ingested during a heavy drinking session.

Acknowledging the licensee's progress in recovery, the Commission ordered the licences to remain suspended until May 31, 2003, and imposed conditions for reinstatement, including completion of an outpatient support program and extended probation.