Dr. Stephen Barker

The appellant trainer appealed a nine-month suspension and $5,000 fine imposed after his horse tested positive for Oxycodone.

The official sample consisted of three blood vials.

While one vial tested positive for trace amounts of the drug, the other two vials tested negative.

The panel accepted expert evidence that it is physiologically impossible for a continuous blood draw to distribute a drug into only one vial, concluding the single positive vial must have been contaminated.

The appeal was allowed and the penalties were set aside.

The mother brought a motion for a temporary order requiring the child to attend Springfield Preparatory and Nursery School commencing September 2012.

The child, age 10, had been diagnosed with a mild learning disability and mild ADHD and was struggling academically in a French immersion program at his current public school despite receiving an Individual Education Plan and private tutoring.

The father opposed the motion, proposing an alternative public school with specialized resources.

The court granted the mother's motion, finding that the private school with smaller class sizes and a supportive teaching approach would better meet the child's educational and emotional needs, particularly given the public school system's historical inability to address the child's needs.

The Standardbred licensee appealed an Order of Immediate Suspension and Notice of Proposed Order suspending his license for 10 years and fining him $40,000 after one of his horses tested positive for Darbepoetin-alpha (DPO).

The appellant challenged the scientific and forensic validity of the testing methodology used by the Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology & Research Laboratory (PETRL).

The Ontario Racing Commission panel found the PETRL methodology to be scientifically and forensically valid, confirmed the 10-year suspension, and increased the fine to $60,000 due to the horse's high racing status and earnings.

The appellant, a standardbred owner/trainer, appealed a ruling suspending him for 180 days and fining him $5,000 after his horse tested positive for Phenylpropolamine.

The appellant argued the horse must have come into contact with the drug while in the retention barn.

The Ontario Racing Commission dismissed the appeal, finding that the trainer is strictly liable for the condition of the horse and that the evidence did not establish that the horse was contaminated in the retention barn.

A thoroughbred trainer appealed a Stewards' ruling that found him in violation of racing rules after his horse tested positive for Flunixin, a Class IV drug.

The trainer argued that a veterinary technician mistakenly administered Flunixin instead of the requested calcium gluconate.

The Commission dismissed the appeal on liability, finding that the trainer failed to establish a due diligence defence on a balance of probabilities, particularly given the lack of evidence regarding other injections and inadequate record-keeping.

However, the Commission varied the penalty, eliminating the $1,000 fine and reducing the suspension to 10 racing days.

The appellant parent appealed an Identification Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) decision placing her child, who has a severe learning disability, in a mixed exceptionalities class with a maximum of sixteen students.

The parent argued for a self-contained class with a maximum of eight students under Regulation 298, clause 31(a).

The Tribunal found that while there was a change in placement from a smaller learning disability class to a larger mixed exceptionalities class, the current placement in the Satellite Program at the secondary school was meeting the student's needs and was in the student's best interests.

The appeal was dismissed and the IPRC decision upheld.