RULING NUMBER COM TB 011/2015
COMMISSION HEARING TORONTO, ONTARIO – SEPTEMBER 2, 2015
NOTICE OF DECISION
IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, S.O. 2000, c.20;
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST FOR HEARING OF JEFFREY BEGG
Jeffrey Begg appealed against Ruling Number TB 9256/2015, issued by the Stewards on June 24, 2015.
Date of Hearing: September 2, 2015
ORC Panel: John W. Macdonald, Commissioner
Counsel for the Appellant: Peter Howard
Agent for the Administration: David Stewart
Decision:
The Panel denied the appeal
A transcript with the Panel’s oral Reasons for Decision is attached to this Notice.
DATED at Toronto this 15^th^ day of September 2015.
______________________________
Jean Major
Executive Director
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
DISCIPLINE 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 JEFFREY BEGG:
Held Before:
John Macdonald Chairman
These are an excerpt of the proceedings in the above mentioned matter held before The Ontario Racing Commission, Re: JEFFREY BEGG, taken before Toronto Court Reporters, Suite 1410, 65 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, at 10 Carlson Court, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, on the 2nd day of September, 2015.
Appearances:
David Stewart, agent for the Ontario Racing Commission Administration
Peter Howard for the appellant Jeffrey Begg
Hearing continued ...
MR. CHAIRMAN: As counsel has pointed out this is a trial de novo. I appreciate all the material and the number of different views of what happened. The pictures submitted as part of Exhibit number 2 are not conclusive to me to show the contact that has been alleged that occurred by the inside horse, the 8 horse but the videos which show the stretch run from a number of different views did, to me, clearly indicate that the 7 horse BELIVEAU came down from about the three hole not necessarily intimidating but at least pushing the 8 horse closer to the rail because there is very little place to go. There was a small area but very small. The 7 horse came from basically the three path down. I can understand that yes, you may want to look the horse in the eye and yes, as long as you are going straight you are not impeding the other horse that's fine. You can go as far out or as far in as you want as long as you are not interfering. I do find here though that there was interference by the 7 horse. The pictures in Exhibit 2 were not conclusive in my view to establish anything different as far as contact. Yes, they were in close quarters and I guess the ideal in cases like this is there is a dead heat but the picture that was submitted to show the photo finish indicated that the horses were very close together and the 8 horse's head was definitely coming up there indicating that something had happened just before the wire. In summation I am going to deny the appeal and thank you all for the presentations.
CERTIFIED CORRECT _______________________________
RAYMOND P. MACDONALD, B.A., CVR
Commissioner of Oaths