RIDEAU CARLETON RACEWAY

On February 15, 2009, the Judges at Rideau Carleton Raceway issued Standardbred Official Ruling SB 38493 to Rideau Carleton Raceway (“RC”) wherein they ordered a penalty of a $5,000 fine, in accordance with Rules 5.11 and 7.05 of the Rules of Standardbred Racing, for the following reasons:

The management of Rideau Carleton Raceway did fail to have the racing strip ‘suitably prepared for racing’ for the scheduled race date of February 5, 2009, causing the races to be cancelled after the third race due to unsafe track conditions.

On February 23, 2009, Rideau filed a Notice of Appeal.

On July 27, 2009, a Panel of the ORC, comprised of Chair Rod Seiling, Commissioner David Gorman and Commissioner Pamela Frostad, was convened to hear the appeal.

Jennifer Friedman appeared as counsel for the Administration. Calina Ritchie attended as counsel on behalf of RC.

Upon considering the Agreed Statement of Facts, hearing the testimony of Gord Brown, Gordon MacDonald, John Burt, Pat Webb, Richard Gardner, Jeff Taylor, Dan Byrne, and Brent Pyper, reviewing the exhibits filed, and upon hearing the closing submissions, the Panel denied the appeal. The Panel’s Reasons for Decision included the following:

i) RC was in violation of SB 7.05 on February 5, 2009;

ii) Track superintendent, Jeff Taylor, violated SB 5.11 by not providing regular reports to the Judges as requested;

iii) The evidence is clear, cogent and compelling that on February 5, 2009, the racing surface at RC was not ‘suitably prepared for racing’ as per SB 7.05. The onus rests solely on RC to have its track ‘race ready’ and it is up to track management to ensure that it has taken the appropriate steps for this to occur.

The Panel made the following Orders:

a) Rideau Carleton’s Racetrack Surface Committee must meet weekly;

b) At each meeting, a senior management from the track must attend, along with the track superintendent and a senior representative from the NCRHHA;

c) Minutes from each meeting must be kept and provided to the Senior ORC Judge weekly;

d) This procedure must be adhered to until such time as the Senior Judge determines a schedule change is warranted.

The Panel’s Reasons for Decision is attached to this Ruling.

DATED at Toronto this 12^th^ day of August 2009.

BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSION

Rob McKinney

(Acting) Executive Director

REASONS FOR DECISION

Overview

Rideau Carleton Raceway (RC) appealed a decision of the Judges, SB 38493 (Ex. 1, tab 18) wherein the track was fined $5,000 for violating SB Rules of Racing, Nos. 5.11 and 7.05 for failing to have the racing strip “suitably prepared for racing” for the scheduled race date of February 5, 2009 thereby causing a cancellation of the races after the third race.

Background

A number of preliminary matters required decisions at the commencement of the hearing. Legal counsel for RC, Ms. Calina Ritchie, objected to Ms. Jennifer Friedman, legal counsel for the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) request to enter as an exhibit a supplementary book of documents arguing they did not provide any probative value. The Panel agreed to allow the documents to be entered as an exhibit with the understanding it would do so “with the appropriate weight” attached to them.
Ms. Friedman requested that two witnesses for the Administration, Gord Brown and John MacDonald, be allowed to testify via telephone. Mr. Brown was unable to attend the hearing as he was scheduled for a medical procedure the following day and Mr. MacDonald, President of the National Capital Region Harness Horse Association (NCRHHA) was a last minute replacement for Russ Moulton of the same organization who had become seriously ill over the weekend. Ms. Ritchie did not object to the telephone testimony concept but did object to Mr. MacDonald on the grounds he was not at the track on February 5, 2009. The Panel agreed to allow Mr. MacDonald to testify as it was important to hear from the horse people on such an important matter and to the testimony of both witnesses to be made via telephone given the very unusual circumstances but noting it is not be construed as an accepted practice by this Commission.
Legal counsel were able to provide the Panel with an agreed statement of facts. It included the following:

Rideau Carleton Raceway is a racing association licensed by the ORC
On December 4, 2008 a Racetrack Surface Committee meeting took place.
On December 7, 2008 Judge John Campbell drafted a report with respect to the meeting of the Racetrack Surface Committee meeting.
On February 5, 2009 the Judges were advised that stone dust was placed on the track on February 3, 2009.
Following the third race, a vote was held with the result that approximately 74% of participants voted against continuation of the races that evening. As a result of the vote, the races were cancelled due to unsafe conditions.
On February 8, 2009 the Judges held a hearing in respect to the track conditions at RC on February 5, 2009.
On February 15, 2009, the Judges issued SB Ruling No. 38493 to RC wherein they were fined $5,000 in accordance with ORC Rules Nos. 5.11 and 7.05 for the following reasons:

“The management of Rideau Carleton Raceway did fail to have the racing strip “suitably prepared for racing” for the scheduled race date of February 5, 2009, causing the races to be cancelled after the third race due to unsafe conditions.”

The dusty conditions on the track at RC, thereby creating unsafe conditions for both horses and participants at RC, had been an ongoing issue since at least March of 2008 (Ex.6, tab 1). A Racetrack Surfaces Committee was formed consisting of track and horse people members. Then Supervisor of Standardbred Racing, William Fines, issued a report entitled “Unsafe Racetrack Surface conditions due to Excessive Dust” as a result of the Judges convening a meeting of the committee on March 2, 2008. That report listed that on at least three or four times that winter an “unsafe racing environment” at RC resulted from excessive dust. Furthermore, the report stated that despite the significant risks to participants no action plan had been developed to counter the dust problem. RC was put on notice that future dust conditions would no longer be tolerated and

Rideau Carleton Raceway, 2009 CanLII 92391

Case Summary

RIDEAU CARLETON RACEWAY