IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, S.O. 2000, c.20;

AND IN THE MATTER OF THOROUGHBRED LICENSEES

SAMUEL QUARANTA AND GLEN ECKHARDT

Thoroughbred licensee Samuel Quaranta appealed Ruling Number TB 2002-73 issued by the Stewards at Fort Erie on June 18, 2002, wherein he was fined the sum of $2,500 and fully suspended for one calendar year for violation of Rules 15.09.1 and 16.13 (c) and (d) of the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing.

Thoroughbred licensee Glen Eckhardt appealed Ruling Number TB 2002-72 issued by the Stewards at Fort Erie on June 18, 2002, wherein he was fully suspended for one calendar year for violation of Rules 15.09.1 and 16.13(c) and (d) of the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing.

Chair Stanley Sadinsky, Q.C., Vice Chair Larry Todd and Commissioner Patricia Bullock convened on November 13, 2002, to hear the appeal.

Harvey Swartz, legal counsel, appeared on behalf of Samuel Quaranta, and Glen Eckhardt appeared on his own behalf. Don Bourgeois, legal counsel, appeared on behalf of the Administration.

On hearing the evidence of David Andreola, Tim Bergman, Chris Tuttle, Gary Chudobiak, Paula Loescher, Steward Russell Fernandes, Samuel Quaranta, Rocco Quaranta and Glen Eckhardt, on reading the exhibits filed and on hearing submissions on behalf of the parties, the Ontario Racing Commission:

a) dismissed the appeal of Glen Eckhardt and confirmed the penalty imposed by the Stewards, and

b) granted the appeal of Samuel Quaranta.

The Commission’s reasons for decision are attached.

DATED this 4^th^ day of December 2002.

BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSION

Jean Major

Executive Director

REASONS FOR DECISION

On June 18, 2002, Samuel Quaranta (Quaranta) was fined the sum of $2,500 and fully suspended for one calendar year by the Stewards at Fort Erie Racetrack (Fort Erie) for violating Rules 15.09.1 and 16.13 (c) and (d) in that he knew of a situation involving hidden ownership of one of the horses that he was training, DOC’S HOSS. On that same day, Glen Eckhardt (Eckhardt) was fined the sum of $5,000 and fully suspended for one calendar year by the same Stewards for violating Rules 15.09.1 and 32.02 in that he was involved in a situation of hidden ownership of the horse, DOC’S HOSS and his partnership was not registered.

At the hearing before us, which was a hearing de novo, Harvey Swartz appeared for Quaranta and called his client and Rocco Quaranta (Rocco) to give evidence. Eckhardt appeared on his own behalf and gave evidence. Don Bourgeois appeared for the Administration of the Ontario Racing Commission and called six witnesses, Steward Russ Fernandes (Fernandes), David Andreola (Andreola), Tim Bergman (Bergman), Gary Chudobiak (Chudobiak), Chris Tuttle (Tuttle) and Paula Loescher (Loescher). In addition, six Exhibits were filed.

Andreola testified that he was the owner of a half interest in DOC’S HOSS. He stated that on June 22, 2001, he borrowed the sum of $7,500 from his brother-in-law, Bergman, to pay for his interest (see Exhibits 4 and 5). He paid this amount to Eckhardt, his partner in the horse, in cash. He did not want to have his own name appear as owner because this horse had previously been trained by Tim Patterson (Patterson) who also trained other horses for Andreola. The horse was claimed by Eckhardt for $14,000 plus G.S.T. and the foal papers were registered in his name as owner on June 24 (see Exhibit 3). Bergman testified that he did lend Andreola the money for the purposes of purchasing a horse. The horse was to be trained by Quaranta.

Andreola testified that he spoke with Quaranta on several occasions about the condition of the horse and that he attended at Quaranta’s stable to visit the horse. At that time, Andreola had also moved two other horses to Quaranta that had been previously trained by Patterson. Chudobiak, who also had horses with Quaranta, testified that he saw Andreola at the stable and that Andreola seemed to be paying particular attention to those two horses and to DOC’S HOSS. Rocco, who is one of Quaranta’s sons and who works for his father as a groom, testified that Andreola never bothered with DOC’S HOSS.

Andreola indicated that he paid Eckhardt his share of the expenses regarding DOC’S HOSS in cash and that Eckhardt gave him his share of the winnings. However, on one occasion, when Quaranta presented Andreola with a training bill for his other two horses, Andreola testified that he asked Quaranta how much he owed for DOC’S HOSS. He said that Quaranta told him it was $510.84 and Quaranta wrote this on a bill for the other horses (see Exhibit 2). Andreola added the words “DOC HOS” to the bill.

Quaranta testified that he never dealt with Andreola regarding DOC’S HOSS. He said that its owner was Eckhardt and it was only Eckhardt that he dealt with. He did not discuss this horse with Andreola nor did he write anything on Exhibit 2.

Eckhardt testified that he was the sole owner of DOC’S HOSS. He denied any involvement whatsoever with Andreola regarding this horse. He indicated that the first time that he was aware that Andreola was claiming an interest in this horse was in late December 2001, or early January 2002.

DOC’S HOSS raced primarily at Fort Erie until the track closed for the season on November 13, 2001. The horse was sold to one Henry Worchester (Worchester) of West Virginia in interesting circumstances.

Eckhardt testified that he had told Quaranta that by the end of the Fort Erie season he wished to sell off all of his horses. Loescher, a former trainer who was then training horses for Worchester, testified that Quaranta told her in November that he had a couple of horses for sale. She and Worchester visited Quaranta’s barn and Worchester was interested in purchasing DOC’S HOSS. However, Quaranta advised that the horse was in to race in a $10,000 claiming race on November 13 and Worchester could put in a claim if he wished. Worchester did but the horse was scratched. Loescher followed up on her prior efforts to help Worchester purchase this horse and Quaranta told her that its owner was prepared to sell the horse for $12,000 (Canadian). The horse was sold to Worchester for this amount and was subsequently shipped to West Virginia.

Andreola had testified that Eckhardt told him that Quaranta intended to take this horse to West Virginia to race after Fort Erie closed. Apparently, Andreola wanted the horse to return to Ontario and he approached Tuttle, a trainer at Fort Erie to ask him if he would take DOC’S HOSS if he could get the horse back from the United States. Tuttle agreed.

In December, Andreola did a search on his computer to see where this horse was and found that DOC’S HOSS ran a race at Penn National in Pennsylvania under the name of Worchester. He testified that he then called Eckhardt to find out what was happening and Eckhardt told him that the horse went lame and that Quaranta sold it for $3,000 (U.S.) and that he would get his half. Andreola testified that he went back to Tuttle and told him the whole story as he understood it and asked for advice.

Andreola wanted his money and he testified that he tried to speak to Quaranta but he hung up on him.

Tuttle testified that by chance, he met Loescher at a bank and because he had heard about DOC’S HOSS from Andreola, he asked Loescher what had happened to the horse. Loescher told Tuttle how the horse had been sold to Worchester for $12,000 (Canadian) at Fort Erie. Tuttle reported this to Andreola and when asked for further advice, Tuttle told Andreola to consider going to the Stewards at Fort Erie but he warned him that he had been involved in a hidden ownership and that there likely would be consequences for him. Andreola went to the Stewards in December 2001, and they asked that an investigation be done by the Investigation Unit of the ORC. Ultimately, charges were laid against Quaranta, Eckhardt and Andreola. Andreola plead guilty to charges of hidden ownership and was fully suspended for one year (see Exhibit 6).

Tuttle also testified that he spoke to Eckhardt on the telephone and told him what he had learned from Loescher. Tuttle indicated that Eckhardt seemed “shocked”.

Eckhardt denied having any conversations whatsoever with Andreola or Tuttle regarding the sale of the horse.

This case turns on issues of credibility. There is a total conflict in the evidence given by Andreola, on the one hand, and by Quaranta and Eckhardt on the other. In cases such as this, it is important to turn to the evidence of others and to evidence that can potentially corroborate the evidence of the principal parties. In our view, this ‘objective’ evidence tends to support, at least in part, the evidence of Andreola.

First, there is the evidence of the loan by Andreola in June 2001, to purchase a horse. The amount of this loan is almost exactly half the cost of claiming DOC’S HOSS for $14,000 plus G.S.T. This supports Andreola’s claim to an interest in the horse as otherwise, the coincidence is simply too great. Second, and most important, is the evidence of Tuttle regarding his conversation with Eckhardt regarding the sale of the horse. There is no reason for Tuttle to fabricate this evidence, yet Eckhardt totally denies that he ever spoke to Tuttle about this horse. This raises grave concerns about Eckhardt’s overall credibility and in the result, we have determined to accept Andreola’s evidence over the evidence of Eckhardt. We therefore find that there is clear and cogent evidence that Eckhardt was involved with Andreola in a case of hidden ownership and an unregistered partnership and accordingly was in violation of Rules 15.09.1 and 32.02. We are satisfied that the penalty imposed by the Stewards was appropriate and it is confirmed.

The evidence against Quaranta also turns entirely on credibility. Had we received evidence of an expert identifying Quaranta’s handwriting on Exhibit 2 and better evidence as to where the figure with respect to the horse DOC’S HOSS came from, we might have reached a different conclusion. But in the absence of such evidence, we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to convict Quaranta and the charge against him is dismissed.

Dated this 3^rd^ day of December 2002.

Stanley Sadinsky Q.C.

Chair