The Ontario Racing Commission has made it official that Kerry and Shirley House, owners of 2009 Gold Cup & Saucer winner All The Weapons, have been fined a large sum of money due to violating rule 15:09a
.
All The Weapons, a seven-year-old son of Towners Big Guy, was claimed after racing at Mohawk Racetrack on July 3. The gelding would go on to race in a Gold Cup & Saucer trial on August 17 at the Charlottetown Driving Park, thus violating ORC rule 15:09a, which stipulates:
15.09. A claimed horse, regard less of ownership:
(a) shall race only at a track or tracks in the Province of Ontario for the next 60 days, except where such a horse had been nominated to participate in an added money event before it was claimed, or unless the track where the horse was claimed is closing for more than 30 days. If the track where the horse was claimed closes for more than 30 days, the horse is released from the requirements of 15.09 (a).
All The Weapons would go on to win the Gold Cup & Saucer August 22 at CDP.
In its ruling, the ORC fined Kerry and Shirley House each $ 17,343.50. The combined sums works out to $34,687, the same amount of purses earned by All The Weapons in winning the trial and final of the Gold Cup & Saucer.
The listing of the fines -- which can be viewed on SC's Fines and Suspensions List -- appears below in its entirety:
HOUSE,KERRY A
ORC - RACING HORSE OUTSIDE OF PROVINCE WITHIN 60 DAYS OF CLAIM DID RACE OUTSIDE THE PROVINCE WITHIN 60 DAYS OF BEING CLAIMED FROM MOHAWK RACETRACK JULY 3/09, VIOLATION OCCURRED AT CHARLOTTETOWN DRIVING PARK, ON AUG 17TH AND AUG 22ND 2009, TOTAL PURSE EARNINGS OF
$34,687
Date Issued : 30-AUG-2009
Total Due : 17,343.50
HOUSE,SHIRLEY J
ORC - RACING HORSE OUTSIDE OF PROVINCE WITHIN 60 DAYS OF CLAIM
DID RACE OUTSIDE PROVINCE WITHIN 60 DAYS OF BEING CLAIMED
FROM MOHAWK RACETRACK JULY 3/09, VIOLATION OCCURRED AT CHARLOTTETOWN DRIVING PARK, ON AUG 17TH AND AUG 22ND 2009, TOTAL PURSE EARNINGS OF
$34,687
Date Issued : 30-AUG-2009
Total Due : 17,343.50
Trot Insider spoke with Kerry today, but he was unable to discuss the matter, as he stated that the ruling is now under appeal.
After the Gold Cup & Saucer win, Shirley commented on the fact that a fine may be coming down the pipe.
“I guess we might be in a little trouble,” Shirley was quoted as saying in an article by The Guardian. “We haven’t heard from the commission yet, but understand we could be fined or suspended.
“I hope they’re not too hard on us,” she continued. “One thing is certain, they can’t take away the Gold Cup and Saucer trophy, or the beautiful cooler, or the fact that All The Weapons and Kenny Oliver won the 50th running of the Gold Cup and Saucer."
Related Stories
• Gold Cup & Saucer Win Controversy
• All The Weapons In Gold Cup & Saucer 
The horse was obviously just
The horse was obviously just entered for the week, then heading back to Ontario. I do agree that rules must be adhered to. However, it seems that this fine is much too excessive. This should have been noticed by the racing body in the first place.
Yeah for judges for
Yeah for judges for enforcing the rule about horses racing outside area before time has lapsed, a very good rule which stops tracks from being raided. Because the horse won a big race doesn't matter, there is injury to the owner of the horse who was didn't get in, But if it had not been a full field, it is still would have been wrong,
where has respect for rules gone?
I think that some of you are
I think that some of you are rediculously whiney.
The rule is put there to stop Ontario horses leaving Ontario and to maintain the quality of horses racing here.
Whether or not the rule is good or needs flexibility is a different matter.
The fine is put in place as a deterrent to those who may want to claim an Ontario horse and take him to say the Big M permenantly thus reducing our stock to a bag of 15k claimers. Good horses create better races. Better races create public intrest and larger handles thus maintaining the purse values.
Although I do agree that this has some grey issues to deal as in the horse is coming back to Ontario the owners knew ahead of time they were going to violate rules and will be fined accordingly.
What I don't get is why the horse was allowed to race at all by the judges.
The horse should never have been allowed to race unless given clearence with the ORC 1st.
My impression was that it
My impression was that it was 10% of the purse (if they were racing for $60,000. example it should be $6,000.) Does ORC change their rule for this owner? We have seen horsemen racing horses outside of Ontario within the 60 days rule, but we have never seen any owner fined for $34,000+. Ridiculous as always! Keep going you will succeed to kill this industry with all those ridiculous fines.
What is the rationale for
What is the rationale for the rule?
This rule is a joke as are
This rule is a joke as are most ORC guidelines these days.
This is the second year in a row that a horse was claimed from Ontario that was obviously better than the claiming price and went to the Cup and Saucer.At the very least, the Ontario jail time should be waved for horses trying stakes competition.
Thes people just had thier dreams of not only competing and winning the Cup and Saucer in front of friends and family turn into a financial nightmare, And just gives future owners one more reason NOT to invest in Ontario harness racing.
These people race their
These people race their horse's in Ontario and claimed this horse to race in Ontario. Just because they took a two week vacation to P.E.I. to race their horse, the ORC decided that they were going to show the whole world who the boss is. It is hard enough to get good owners these days and decisions like this by the ORC will make potential owners think twice before they will get into the racing in Ontario.
When the horse was claimed I
When the horse was claimed I would assume they would be familiar with that particular rule. Whether it's good or bad rule can be debated but that still doesn't change the fact when you violate ORC rules you have to be prepared to face the consequences.
Well, that same argument was
Well, that same argument was made last year by the owner of Match Bayama and the ORC didnt agree then. I agree that its ridiculous that a horse that goes there, races and then comes back to Ontario gets fined the entire purse.
This rule needs reviewing; what happens to the $34k - I guess it goes into the ORC account.
This is the single most
This is the single most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. It's a shame that people can't claim a horse and race it where they want. Hopefully this doesn't detract anyone from coming to the Gold Cup in years to come. Shame on the ORC, it's not like the horse was not going to be returned after the race. Give your heads a long shake!