Indiana Breeder & Owner Protection, Inc. (IBOP) would like to request that the Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) add a "New Business" item for the meeting scheduled for June 25th. We also believe that due to another oversight by the commission staff an emergency should exist. This oversight by the commission staff has caused the scratches of Red Lite Nite from the $84,000 Ellen's Lucky Star Stakes and of X Boss from the $84,000 Snack Stakes both scheduled for the June 20th race card at Indiana Downs. We've attached a copy of the early scratches at Indiana Downs for June 20th as provided by Equibase.
Please consider this correspondence as IBOP's petition to amend '71 IAC 7.5-1-4 Coupled entries,' which is copied in its entirety below, to conform with the clearly communicated intent, expressed by the commissioners, at the January 24, 2012 meeting. More specifically, 71 IAC 7.5-1-4(b), highlighted below, should have been modified earlier this year to reflect the clearly expressed intent of the commission to provide an exception to this administrative rule for the Indiana-bred stakes program. The language of the rule, "in no circumstances may two (2) having common ties of ownership start to the exclusion of a single entry" is contrary to a commission decision from the January 24, 2012 meeting. At that meeting, the commissioners approved an exception to this administrative rule as a part of the 2012 Thoroughbred Breed Development Program and a change to the rule was never executed. Further substantiation is below the copied administrative rule.
71 IAC 7.5-1-4 Coupled entries
Authority: IC 4-31-3-9
Affected: IC 4-31
Sec. 4. (a) Two (2) or more horses which are entered in a race shall be joined as a mutuel and single betting interest if they are owned or leased in whole or in part by the same owner. Horses trained by the same trainer but owned entirely by different owners shall be coupled as a single betting interest; however, the association, with the permission of the stewards, may uncouple such horses in quarter horse races.
(b) No more than two (2) horses having common ties through ownership or training may be entered in an overnight race. Other than quarter horse time trials and time trial finals, in no circumstance may two (2) horses having common ties of ownership start to the exclusion of a single entry. Preference for horses with the same trainer, but having no common ties of ownership, will be determined by the conditions of the race and/or preference date and may exclude a single entry.
(c) A trainer may not train for another trainer licensed in the state of Indiana. (Indiana Horse Racing Commission; 71 IAC 7.5-1-4; emergency rule filed Jun 15, 1995, 5:00 p.m.: 18 IR 2865, eff Jul 1, 1995; emergency rule filed Aug 9, 1995, 10:30 a.m.: 18 IR 3406; emergency rule filed May 20, 1996, 10:00 a.m.: 19 IR 2892; emergency rule filed Jun 22, 2000, 3:05 p.m.: 23 IR 2780;
readopted filed Oct 30, 2001, 11:50 a.m.: 25 IR 899; emergency rule filed Feb 21, 2003, 4:15 p.m.: 26 IR 2383; emergency rule filed Aug 21, 2003, 4:45 p.m.: 27 IR 205; emergency rule filed Mar 20, 2007, 1:43 p.m.: 20070404-IR-071070198ERA, eff Mar 16, 2007 [IC 4-22-2-37.1 establishes the effectiveness of an emergency rule upon filing with the Publisher. LSA Document #07-198(E) was filed with the Publisher March 20, 2007.]; readopted filed Mar 23, 2007, 11:31 a.m.: 20070404-IR-071070030RFA)
The attachment to this email was taken directly from http://www.in.gov/hrc/files/2012_TB_Program.pdf . This document is the "Thoroughbred Breed Development Advisory Committee 2012 Approved Program." There is further notation under the heading on the first page that this document was approved by the thoroughbred breed development committee on December 14, 2011 and "Approved by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission on January 24, 2012." Having had board members attend the December 14, 2011 breed development advisory committee meeting, the clear expressed intent of the committee was to guarantee that the best horses got into the Indiana-restricted thoroughbred stakes races irrespective of whether common ownership would exclude a single entry. At the top of page three of the approved program of that intent was expressed as:
"In addition, the Committee recommends that the following language, "Two horses having common ties through ownership cannot start to the exclusion of a single betting interest", be eliminated from all Breed Development stake conditions."
The entire 2012 program was approved by the commissioners without changes. In order for the commissioners expressed intent to be effective, 71 IAC 7.5-1-4(b) would have had to have been modified to provide for such an exception. No modification of the language to 71 IAC 7.5-1-4(b) was completed. In reviewing stakes conditions from 2011, we do note that the language "Two horses having common ties through ownership cannot start to the exclusion of a single betting interest" language HAS been removed from the stakes conditions in 2012. However, there should have been more diligence on the part of the IHRC staff in following through to guarantee that the clearly expressed intent of the commission was implemented within the Indiana Administrative Code.
As further corroboration, Program Director Jessica Barnes said, "In the interest of quality of entries, the Committee recommends that all breed development stakes not include the language, two horses having common ties through ownership cannot start to the exclusion of a single betting interest." (Meeting transcript page 36, lines 13-17) After further discussion on the program, Commissioner Grimes asked for clarification with, "Just like a little enlightenment on the recommendation, two horses having common ties of ownership cannot start to the exclusion of a single bet. Please explain that to me." (Meeting transcript page 38, lines 14 to 18) Ms. Barnes responded, "This language has always been included in the requirements for the stakes, and what we would like to do is remove that. If you're looking at carving a race with the top 10 or 12 quality horses and you're excluding a horse because there's common ties, you're really not getting the best horses in the race. So the Committee felt when they were looking at this that it was time to take that language out. This goes along the same lines of what the language is for open stake races. The open stake races at the racetrack does not have this language in there. So we would be conforming to what the language is for the racetracks for their open stakes." (Meeting transcript page 38 lines 19 to 25 and page 39 lines 1 through 7)
Please Note: While the characterization that "This goes along the same lines of what the language is for open stake races" may be accurate from a stakes condition perspective, the same language currently in 71 IAC 7.5-1-4(b) would also provide the same limitation within the open stakes program. However, IBOP's review has been confined to what we readily see as an expressed intent of the commission for the change for stakes races within the Indiana-restricted program.
Sincerely,
Jim Hartman
IBOP Vice President
CC: Chairman McNaught
Commissioner Lauck
Commissioner Schaefer
Commissioner Grimes
Commissioner Barclay
The IHRC did add this issue to the agenda for their June 25th meeting and approved a modification to the coupled entry rule. This modification was filed with the Indiana Register on July 5, 2012, as an emergency rule. Therefore, the new coupled entry rule the IHRC intended to have in effect was in effect for the stakes races at Indiana Downs on July 11th.
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