RULING NUMBER COM SB 033/2011
COMMISSION HEARING TORONTO, ONTARIO – JULY 5, 2011
IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT S.O. 2000, c.20;
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST FOR HEARING BY
STANDARDBRED LICENSEE MIKE SAFTIC
On June 07, 2011, the Judges issued Standardbred Official Ruling SB 42621 wherein Mike Saftic (“Saftic”) was given the penalty of a $200 fine for failure to come up and remain on the starting gate in Race 1 on June 7, 2011 at Mohawk Raceway, in violation of Standardbred Rule 22.03 j (vii).
On June 13, 2011, Saftic filed a Notice of Appeal, pursuant to Rule 24.01(b) of the Rules of Standardbred Racing.
On July 05, 2011, a Panel of the Ontario Racing Commission (“ORC”) comprised of Commission Chair Rod Seiling, convened for the purpose of hearing this matter.
Neil McCoag appeared on behalf of the Administration of the ORC. Saftic attended the Hearing and was unrepresented.
After reviewing the evidence, hearing the testimony of Judge Tom Miller, Saftic and Starter James Roselle, and upon considering the closing submissions, the Panel denied the appeal.
A transcript with the Panel’s Oral Decision is attached to this Ruling.
DATED at Toronto this 7th day of July 2011.
BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSION
John L. Blakney Executive Director ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
STANDARDBRED HEARING
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST FOR HEARING OF MICHAEL SAFTIC
Held Before:
Rod Seiling, Chairman
These are an excerpt of the proceedings in the above mentioned matter held before The Ontario Racing Commission, Re: MICHAEL SAFTIC, taken before Toronto Court Reporters, Suite 1410, 65 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, at 10 Carlson Court, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, on the 5th day of July, 2011.
Appearances:
Neil McCoag, agent for the Ontario Racing Commission Administration
Hearing continued ...
MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. After carefully listening to the testimony and the evidence and reviewing the tapes the appeal is denied. There is no question Mr.Saftic was off the gate and at the time would not have known that his horse had lost a shoe. So if there was a broken equipment issue, even though it is not officially designated as such, he wouldn't have known that at the time. That's after the fact but on the other hand I do recognize the frustration that he and allegedly other drivers are having and given, Mr. Miller, you are senior at Mohawk right now I'm going to ask you to have; in your meeting with the drivers tonight I'd ask you to include getting some comments back from them and reporting back to the Director of Racing to put any recommendations that may come out of that as to whether there is anything this Commission should or should not be doing and to be determined but obviously I'm not against progress and I'm not against using technology when and where it is applicable. Maybe this is still a work in progress, maybe it is what it needs to be, I'm not going to make that decision. Obviously one of the partners in this are the drivers and if in fact it is not working and I'm also aware that we can get ten drivers in a room and get varying opinions on what time of day it is and what the track may be like or not like so I'm not coming out one way or the other but just asking if you would - to gain some information and report back to the Administration for them to take a new look at it based on what you may or may not conclude. So thank you. Any questions? If not, thank you.
MR. MCCOAG: Thank you.
CERTIFIED CORRECT_________________________________
RAYMOND P. MACDONALD, B.A., CVR Commissioner of Oaths