AMENDED RULING NUMBER COM SB 022/2013
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 MIKE SAFTIC APPEAL
Mike Saftic (“Saftic“) appealed against Ruling Number SB 45815.
Date of Hearing: May 9, 2013
ORC Panel Members: Commissioner John W. Macdonald
Representative for Appellant: Self-represented
Representative for the Administration: David Stewart
The Panel denied the appeal but varied the penalty.
Saftic will serve his 5-day suspension from May 14 to May 18, 2013, inclusively.
A transcript with the Panel’s oral Reasons for Decision is attached to this Notice.
DATED at Toronto this 16^th^ day of May 2013.
______________________________
Steven Lehman
Executive Director
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST
FOR HEARING OF MIKE SAFTIC
Held Before:
John W. Macdonald, Commissioner
Reasons in the above-mentioned matter held
Before The Ontario Racing Commission, Re:
MIKE SAFTIC, taken before Toronto Court
Reporters, Suite 1410, 65 Queen Street West,
Toronto, Ontario, held at Carlson Court,
Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, on the 9^th^ day of
May, 2013.
Appearances:
David Stewart, For the Ontario
Racing Commission
Administration
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THE COMMISSIONER: Mr. Saftic, I watched
2 the video, seen them all. To me, while it's of
3 little doubt that certain occasions there was
4 motion not just holding it against the hind
5 quarters, it appeared to be an upper motion.
6 It wasn't -- you are quite right the urging
7 rules were designed to help the public
8 understand that we're not allowing
9 indiscriminate hitting of the horse,
10 particularly here. The other two offences were
11 there and the judges has indicated Mr. Walker
12 -- that he felt their hands were tied, but they
13 still decided it was (inaudible) -- whip.
14 Yes, there was a use of whip and
15 it wasn't like you were beating the horse like
16 that. I can appreciate that. So the
17 circumstances are different than some of the
18 urging rules where there have been violations
19 where people appeared before me where there was
20 a little excessive use. And I don't think what
21 I saw here was excessive, although there was
22 certainly a motion.
23 While I'm going to deny the
24 appeal, I'm going to vary the sentence that will
25 go to suspending $300 of the fine. So the fine
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1 will be $200, and I will also suspend the days
2 from 15 down the five, provided the suspension
3 lasts for one year, if there are no subsequent
4 violations and the slate would be wiped clean.
5 In other words, if there are no violations,
6 urging violations, within the next year, the
7 portion of the fine and the time of suspension
8 will be absolved. So you still have, sitting
9 here, the 15 days and the 500, but at this stage
10 it's 200 and five days.
11 Now as to the time, I'm assuming
12 that there is stay of offence?
13 MR. STEWART: If there is another
14 violation by Mr. Saftic?
15 THE COMMISSIONER: Then the extra
16 10 days and extra $300 will apply.
17 MR. STEWART: Will apply, plus
18 whatever penalty he receives for that violation.
19 THE COMMISSIONER: Yes. I'm not
20 going to pre-judge the case in the future. So
21 we're down to where it's the same basic fine
22 that you had on February 16th.
23
--- Whereupon at 11:47 a.m. the proceedings
25 were concluded.
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This is to hereby certify
that the forgoing is a true
4 and accurate transcript of
the proceedings to the best
5 of my skill and ability.
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________________________
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Sandra Brereton
9 Certified Court Reporter
Registered Professional Reporter
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