IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT 2000, S.O. 2000, c.20;
AND IN THE MATTER OF WILLIAM ROBINSON
STANDARDBRED RULING
By ruling SB 246/2000 and 246(a)/2000, the Ontario Racing Commission imposed on Standardbred trainer William Robinson a full suspension of two years and a fine of $25,000 for violations of Rules 9.09(b), 26.02 and 26.02.1 when ARTISTIC tested positive for the Class III drug Phenylpropanolamine, a metabolite of Ephedrine after race 8 on February 26, 2000 at Woodbine Racetrack. Mr. Robinson applied for judicial review. The penalty imposed by the Ontario Racing Commission was quashed and the matter was remitted back for a re-hearing on the issue of penalty.
On August 28 and 30, Chair Stanley Sadinsky and Commissioner Patricia Bullock convened to hold the rehearing on penalty.
Arlen Sternberg appeared on behalf of Mr. Robinson and Don Bourgeois appeared on behalf of the Administration.
On hearing the testimony of William Robinson, William Sharpe, William Hicks and Paul Cass, on reading the exhibits filed and on hearing submissions on behalf of the parties, the Ontario Racing Commission imposed a full suspension of 10 months and a fine of $50,000. Mr. Robinson is to be credited with the time that he has already served (October 1, 2000 to January 24, 2001). The date the suspension is to commence is to be determined by counsel, failing which the matter may be returned to the panel.
Dated at Toronto, this 6th day of September, 2002.
BY ORDER OF _ (original signed by) Jean Major
Jean Major
Executive Director
IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT 2000, S.O. 2000, c.20;
AND IN THE MATTER OF WILLIAM ROBINSON
REASONS FOR DECISION
On September 7, 2000, a Panel of the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) composed of Stanley Sadinsky, Q.C., Patricia Bullock and Bruce Duncan found that William Robinson (Robinson) violated Standardbred Rules 9.09(b), 26.02 and 26.02.1 in that he was responsible for permitting the horse ARTISTIC to race at Woodbine on February 26, 2000, with a prohibited substance in its system. Following the New Guidelines for Equine Drug Offences effective July 15, 1999, the Panel imposed a full suspension for 2 years and a fine of $25,000.
Robinson had the issue of penalty judicially reviewed by the Courts. The penalty imposed by the Panel was quashed and the matter of penalty was remitted to the ORC for a re-hearing. The re-hearing was heard by Stanley Sadinsky, Q.C. and Patricia Bullock as the term of the appointment to the ORC of Bruce Duncan had expired.
At the outset of the re-hearing, counsel for Robinson, Arlen Sternberg, made a number of Motions all of which were dismissed. The Reasons for dismissing the Motions were delivered orally and form part of the transcript.
On the issue of penalty, 8 Exhibits were filed and Robinson, Bill Sharpe (Sharpe), William Hicks and Paul Cass were called as witnesses.
The reason why the issue of penalty was returned to the Commission for hearing was because the earlier Panel had treated the offence in question as a 4th offence pursuant to the New Guidelines. In essence, the Commission is now required to treat the offence as a 1st offence under the Guidelines. The directions from the Court to the Commission are found in the following passage in the case of Jack Harris, heard by the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court on December 12, 2000, (Court file No: 88/2000), a case similar to this case on the issue of penalty. In paragraph 6 of the Decision, Justice Lang in speaking for the Court said this:
Even without retrospective application, the Guidelines can be applied to satisfy the laudable goals and policy objectives for which they were designed. These are guidelines. The Commission has, and may exercise discretion within its expertise. In exercising that discretion, the Commission may, and should take prior offences into account. In doing so, it may, or may not arrive at the same penalty as was imposed in this case.
The following is a list of the drug offences committed by Robinson since 1978 along with the penalties imposed. The reference to “Class” is a reference to the classification of drugs by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, which this Commission follows. The classifications range from the most serious, Class I, to the least serious, Class V.
Date Drug Class Penalty
July 28, 1978 Flunixin Class IV $500 fine
May 13, 1985 Oxyphenbutazone Class IV 15 days and $1,000
December 12, 1990 Phenylbutazone Class IV 30 days and $1,500
March 22, 1992 Robaxin Class IV 45 days and $2,500
June 14, 1997 Bicarbonate Class III 15 days and $1,000
April 20, 1998 Propantheline Class IV 15 days and $2,000
September 4, 1998 Bicarbonate Class III 6 months (stayed)
and $7,500
December 12, 1998 Lidocaine (Yonkers NY) Class II 15 days and $500
March 7, 1999 Lidocaine Class II 30 days and $5,000
February 26, 2000 Propanolamine Class III (This offence)
Robinson was first licenced as a trainer in 1969 (Exhibit 13) and so his record discloses a total of 10 drug offences in approximately 33 years. In that time, Robinson has likely had over 10,000 starts, a figure which is extrapolated from a summary of his training records (Exhibit 10). He is one of the top, if not the top trainer of Standardbred horses in North America (see Exhibits 11 and 12).
In his best years, Robinson would have approximately 50 horses in his care at any given time. He employs assistant trainers. In this case, he was in Florida when ARTISTIC gave a positive sample. His assistant trainer, William Elliott (Elliott), arranged to have a veterinarian give the drug to ARTISTIC and Robinson testified that he did not know that it was being done. Nonetheless, as trainer of record, Robinson was held responsible for the positive test result.
Following the decision, Robinson served 4 months less one week of his suspension. During some of the time when he was appealing, he received a stay of his penalty and has at times, continued to race particularly in 2002. During this year, he has had unprecedented success and has not had a positive test. For a time, Woodbine Entertainment Group (Woodbine) required that his horses race out of detention. He is no longer required by Woodbine to do so.
When Robinson was suspended, he transferred his horses to his son Brett or to Sharpe. It seems that many of his long-standing owners have been prepared to return their horses to him now that he has continued to train. His requests for transfers were, for the most part, approved by the Standardbred Judges. What seems apparent, is that Robinson, while suspended, was in the background and ready to take over directly when circumstances permitted.
While Robinson’s overall number of positive tests is small in relation to his number of starts over 33 years, in the period 1997 to 2000 he had 5 positive test results. This is a significant number of positives and indicates that either Robinson was ‘pushing the envelope’ or that he had lost some degree of control over his operation.
We have carefully taken into account all of the relevant circumstances in determining the appropriate penalty in this case including the following:
I. This offence is to be treated as a first offence under the New Guidelines;
II. Robinson did not actively participate in nor have knowledge of the administration of the drug to ARTISTIC and is only liable under the ‘trainer responsibility’ rule;
III. The drug was a Class III anti-allergy medication prescribed by a veterinarian and was not designed to enhance the performance of the horse;
IV. Robinson’s overall record of positive tests, particularly the number between 1997 and 2000. (Robinson did not train in 2001);
V. Robinson has already served just under 4 months of his penalty;
VI. Robinson was unable to race at the Woodbine tracks for a time under Woodbine’s policies or had to race his horses out of detention; and,
VII. Robinson has had no positive test results since February, 2000.
The New Guidelines provide for 75 day full suspension and a fine of $1,500 for a first offence for a Class III drug. However, following the direction of Justice Lang in the Harris case, we have exercised our discretion and considered Robinson’s overall record of drug offences. Having regard to all of the circumstances, we have concluded that the public interest is duly served in this case by penalty of a 10 months full suspension and a fine of $50,000. In serving his suspension, Robinson will be credited with the time already served. We leave it to counsel to determine when the suspension will commence. Failing agreement, that matter may be returned to this panel. We direct the Judges to scrupulously review all of the circumstances that apply should a request be made to transfer Robinson’s horses to another trainer during the period of his suspension.
We wish to thank counsel for their considerable assistance with respect to this matter.
(original signed) by Stanley Sadinsky
Stanley Sadinsky, Q.C.
Chair