IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, S.O. 2000 C. 20;
AND IN THE MATTER IN THE APPEAL OF
THOROUGHBRED LICENSEE ALEXANDER MCPHERSON
Thoroughbred licensee Alexander McPherson appealed the decision of the thoroughbred division of the Ontario Racing Industry Board of Appeal to uphold the decision of the Stewards to disqualify his horse “Bright Reagent” from second place and place it fifth in the sixth race at Woodbine Racetrack on October 10th, 2005.
On April 5th, 2006, a panel of the Ontario Racing Commission consisting of Chair Lynda Tanaka, Commissioners David Gorman, and Bernard Brennan, DVM, convened to hear the appeal.
Luisa Ritacca appeared at the hearing for the Administration and Mr. McPherson appeared on his own behalf.
On hearing the evidence of Steward Richard Grubb, Jockeys Todd Cable, Sunny Singh and Corey Fraser, and on reading and reviewing the exhibits filed, and on hearing the submissions of counsel and Mr. McPherson, the Commission dismissed the appeal, and upheld the placing of the horse from second place to fifth place.
The Commission gave oral reasons for the decision, the transcript of which is attached to this ruling.
DATED at Toronto this 1st day of May 2006.
BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSION
John L. Blakney
Executive Director
1ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
THOROUGHBRED HEARING
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IN THE MATTER OF THE Racing Commission Act,
3 2000, S.O. 2000, c 20
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-and-
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6 IN THE MATTER OF: Thoroughbred Licensee
ALEXANDER MCPHERSON:
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10 BEFORE: Lynda Tanaka Chair
11 David Gorman Member
12 Bernard Brennan Member
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14 ---------------REASONS---------------
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Conducted in the Hearing
16 Room of the Ontario Racing Commission, 7th
Floor, Suite 400, 10 Carlson Court Toronto,
17 Ontario, on the 5th day of April
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APPEARANCES:
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Luisa J. Ritacca Counsel for the
22 Administration
23 Ed Hall Supervisor of Thoroughbred
Racing
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Alexander McPherson Unrepresented
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2 ----- Upon resuming
3 THE CHAIR: We have reached a unanimous
4 decision of the panel.
5 This case relates to the 6th race run
6 at Woodbine on -- what is my date here -- on
7 October 10, 2005.
8 The ruling of the Stewards was to
9 disqualify the horse ridden by Corey Fraser and
10 trained by trainer Alec McPherson who has
11 appealed the Stewards' decision; first to the
12 Industry Appeal Board and then to this Panel.
13 The disqualification of Mr.
14 McPherson's horse Bright Reagent arose as a
15 result of the incident in the stretch run in
16 which a horse ridden by Sunny Singh, called
17 Mywifetheshrink was running along the rail and
18 pulled up suddenly to avoid making contact with
19 Mr. Fraser's horse Bright Reagent.
20 The evidence of Mr. Fraser and Todd
21 Kabel; the rider of the number 6 horse Celtic
22 Ride, which was just to the outside of Mr.
23 Fraser's horse, was that Mr. Fraser's horse
24 shied and moved towards the rail and at that
25 point Mr. Singh grabbed hold of his horse quite
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1 severely.
2We have watched the videos and
3 listened to the evidence and the submissions of
4 Mr. McPherson. Mr. McPherson's position is
5 that it is Mr. Kabel's; Celtic Ride, which is
6 the horse which has not complied with the Rules
7 of racing by maintaining his course unless --
8 -- by maintaining its course.
9 The allegation is that Todd Kabel's
10 horse, from the turn, dropped in towards the
11 rail and took away the running room of Mr.
12 Fraser's horse.
13 Mr. Fraser testified that there was
14 some brushing about an eighth of a mile prior to
15 the interference. He said that the momentum of
16 Mr. Kabel's horse was bringing that horse in and
17 that is the real cause of the interference.
18 Mr. McPherson indicates that he feels
19 very strongly that Mr. Kabel's role and the role
20 of his horse was the cause of the interference
21 incident and that by squeezing the horses in;
22 the horse first ridden by Mr. Fraser and then by
23 Mr. Singh, that it is Mr. Kabel's interference
24 that has caused the incident here.
25 He asks us to find that Mr. Kabel's
TORONTO COURT REPORTERS - TORONTO – ONTARIO
1 horse, which came in first, is disqualified and
2 that would mean that Mr. Fraser's horse Bright
3Reagent would come in first.
4It is quite clear that -- from what we
5 see of the video, that Mr. Fraser's horse did
6 shy and that is the immediate cause of Mr. Singh
7 pulling up on his horse.
8 The question is, did Mr. Kabel do
9 anything he was not entitled to do in terms of
10 his movement as he came down the stretch? And
11 this is where we believe there is a very grey
12 area but, in our view, Mr. Kabel's horse
13 followed a path that is within the range of what
14 we would expect, given that this is the very end
15 of a long race, and that he stayed within what
16 we think was approximately where he was entitled
17 to stay and that there was still room.
18 In our view, the shying incident was
19 in fact the reason Mr. Singh pulled back on his
20 horse. We would need very clear evidence,
21 which we do not see here, to find that a horse
22 that was in the lead in the stretch should
23 somehow be put back in these circumstances.
24 The movement within the track is not,
25 in our view, so severe that we could say that
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1 Mr. Kabel was coming to the point of interfering
2 with Mr. Fraser and thereby causing Mr. Singh to
3 grab hold.
4 We recognize that people feel strongly
5 about these cases and we appreciate them being
6 brought forward but, in our view, we will not
7 interfere with the Stewards's call in this
8 case.
9 Thank you very much for participating
10 Mr. Alexander -- sorry -- Mr. McPherson and that
11 concludes this matter.
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5I hereby certify the foregoing to be
6 a true and accurate transcript as taken
7 by me to the best of my skill and
8 ability.
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11 _____________________________
12 Christine McAlister, B.A.,C.S.R.
13 Toronto Court Reporters
14 1410 - 65 Queen Street West, Box 69
15 Toronto, Ontario M5H 2M5
16 (416) 364-2065
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