RULING NUMBER COM SB 018/2013
COMMISSION HEARING TORONTO, ONTARIO – MAY 9, 2013
NOTICE OF DECISION
IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, S.O. 2000, c.20;
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE PAUL HENRY APPEAL
Paul Henry appealed against Ruling Number SB 45365.
Date of Hearing: May 9, 2013
ORC Panel Members: Commissioner John W. Macdonald
Representatives for Appellant: Travis Henry and
Anthony MacDonald (as a friend)
Representative for the Administration: David Stewart
The Panel denied the appeal but varied the penalty.
A transcript with the Panel’s oral Reasons for Decision is attached to this Notice.
DATED at Toronto this 16th day of May 2013.
Steven Lehman
Executive Director
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST
FOR HEARING OF PAUL HENRY
Held Before:
John W. Macdonald, Commissioner
This is the ruling in the above mentioned
matter held before The Ontario Racing
Commission, Re: PAUL HENRY, taken before
Toronto Court Reporters, Suite 1410, 65 Queen
Street West, Toronto, Ontario, at 10 Carlson
Court, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, on the 9th
day of May, 2013.
Appearances:
David Stewart, For the Ontario
Racing Commission
Administration
TORONTO COURT REPORTERS - TORONTO, ONTARIO
THE COMMISSIONER: I can tell you right
2 off the top, the fact that this horse had been
3 claimed, Billy Bass, to go to Buffalo, for our
4 purposes is immaterial. We're dealing here
5 with the horse that was programmed to be on
6 lasix and raced without it.
7 So there were factors here, and
8 Mr. McCoag explained that. The chief test
9 officer missed it and it was not reported to the
10 judges. So if he had, the judges would have
11 done -- the horse would have been scratched.
12 That's the same as being late to get to the
13 program, that it's set up what you have to do.
14 Travis was the one who looked
15 after the horse. He had the ultimate
16 responsibility at least to know. There's where
17 -- there's a negligence factor here, due
18 diligence.
19 If you are claiming for somebody
20 else, yes. I don't know what the responsibility
21 was for the owner, Mr. Callahan, but he should
22 have looked and probably did look at the lines,
23 so he knew what the horse was....
24 If he had an obligation to -- or
25 not, I don't know. That's between the two of
TORONTO COURT REPORTERS - TORONTO, ONTARIO
1 you. But I think you are the person responsible
2 for looking after the welfare of the horse here.
3 You should have known the horse had three --
4 previous six starts.
5 Sorry, I should have excused you.
6 You don't have to sit there. You can go back.
7 You should have known that the
8 horse was racing on lasix. We don't know for
9 how long, but the more recent ones he had. So
10 you did bear some of the responsibility there.
11 The judges have already dealt with
12 the chief test officer who obviously wasn't
13 doing his or her job properly at the time. And
14 I guess in English literature terms, that's a
15 comedy of errors. It's not really a comedy
16 here. There is an element that the public
17 should know there were -- lasix, they have been
18 around for a while, supposed to be
19 anti-bleeding. There is some benefit to the
20 horse.
21 The public is entitled to know if
22 a horse is on lasix or not. And I would be a
23 little concerned if I was the betting public and
24 the horse had shown lasix for a number of races
25 and all of a sudden he's out off. Well, that's
TORONTO COURT REPORTERS - TORONTO, ONTARIO
1 why the judges should be informed so they can
2 announce if a horse is going off lasix. And
3 usually it might be a time period the horse has
4 been off before they attempt to see what he's
5 like off lasix.
6 Anyhow, because of this
7 combination, while I'm going to deny the appeal
8 I'm going to reduce the fine of $250 by
9 suspending the other 250, provided there's no
10 racing-related violations in the next year.
11 I'm suspending -- the fine is
12 staying the same at $500 but I'm suspending half
13 of that. And my reasons are that too many
14 errors, and the responsibility rests with not
15 only the trainer but, in this case, the test
16 officer. If this had been a horse that would
17 have been racing for a few weeks and missed the
18 lasix, I would have treated that differently.
19 I'll give you some benefit of the
20 doubt that, while you were a little careless at
21 not knowing, this is something that was thrown
22 onto you in a short period of time. On that
23 basis, the effective fine will be $250.
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TORONTO COURT REPORTERS - TORONTO, ONTARIO
--- Whereupon at 12:25 p.m. the proceedings
3 were concluded.
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This is to hereby certify
that the forgoing is a true
8 and accurate transcript of
the proceedings to the best
9 of my skill and ability.
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Sandra Brereton
13 Certified Court Reporter
Registered Professional Reporter
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TORONTO COURT REPORTERS - TORONTO, ONTARIO