Juan Crawford v. Ontario Racing Commission, 2015 CanLII 40989

COMMISSION HEARING TORONTO, ONTARIO – JULY 8, 2015

IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, S.O. 2000, c.20;

AND IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL OF JUAN CRAWFORD

Juan Crawford, licence # 138073, appealed Ruling Number TB 9170/2015 issued against him for violation of Rules 9.14.01, 9.14.02, 9.14.03, 11.07, 11.09.01, 11.09.03, 11.09.05, 11.12 and 11.14 of the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing.

Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015

ORC Panel: John W. Macdonald, Commissioner

Counsel for the Appellant: Dan McMahon

Agent for the Administration: Neil McCoag

Decision:

The Panel denied the appeal. The three days racing suspension are assigned as July 17, 18 and 19, 2015.

A transcript with the Panel’s oral Reasons for Decision is attached to this Notice.

DATED at Toronto this 14^th day of July 2015.

Jean Major

Executive Director

ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION

THOROUGHBRED HEARING

IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, 2000, S.O. C.20 AND THE RULES OF THOROUGHBRED RACING:

AND IN THE MATTER OF AN APPEAL AND REQUEST FOR HEARING OF JUAN CRAWFORD:

Held Before:

John Macdonald Commissioner

These are an excerpt of the proceedings in the above mentioned matter held before The Ontario Racing Commission, Re: JUAN CRAWFORD, taken before Toronto Court Reporters, Suite 1410, 65 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, at 10 Carlson Court, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, on the 16th day of June, 2015.

Appearances:

Neil McCoag,

Agent for the Ontario Racing Commission Administration

Dan McMahon, for Crawford

Hearing continued ...

MR. CHAIRMAN: As a matter for the record there wasn’t any appeal by the trainer or owner here. In any event, gentlemen, thank you. The claim of foul as expressed was not in the early part of the race but it was near and at the wire and in my view, notwithstanding what Mr. Crawford is trying to tell us, he was hitting his horse left handed. The horse moved out. That was his horse. That was the 7 horse DANCING WITH DUNKIRK and moved ASTHETIC out from I guess pretty close to the two hole where it was tight quarters and moved him over to about the four hole. I appreciate Mr. McMahon was trying to show me that but that horse just kept moving out and it looked like Mr. Crawford, a combination of hitting him and not controlling him the horse moved. I don’t understand Mr. Crawford said that he was trying to show that the other horse drifted into him. Well, that may have happened earlier in the race and there is argument for that but that wasn’t where the claim of foul was made. The claim of foul was near and at the wire. The one thing I didn’t believe Mr. Crawford, was that he said his horse lost rhythm. From what I could see he was going up the inside and he hit him well enough that that horse didn’t lose any rhythm at all. He was charging right through to the wire and that’s why he ended up 1^st and ended up being placed 2^nd.

The one place where there was a difference of opinion was yelling and Mr. Crawford was very clear that he said he was yelling quite a bit. Mr. Garcia either didn’t hear him, there was too much noise around and everybody else was yelling who knows. We weren’t there. So I can’t make a decision on that one. I don’t think an awful lot turns on it except earlier when it looks like they were rubbing just after the head of the stretch when the two horses were very close to each other and it was also fairly clear that the 8 horse did come down after the head of the stretch but not that much that it would affect obviously Mr. Crawford who Mr. Crawford’s horse kept going and I would say they were, to use the term that you gentlemen have been using, they were race riding.

They were riding to win. I understand that but having said all that I’m going to deny the appeal. I found that Mr. Crawford’s riding was such that it took Mr. Garcia’s horse out at the wire. Who knows would have happened there. The horse didn’t lose rhythm. The horse rode well right to the finish.

Thank you gentlemen. The only thing to be decided is the days for the suspension. Can I leave that with you to work out?

MR. MCCOAG: Thank you, sir. We will look after that.

CERTIFIED CORRECT:_________________________________

RAYMOND P. MACDONALD, B.A., CVR

Commissioner of Oaths