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I've been sitting on this story for a few days-- thanks to Ed Martin for passing it along this past weekend-- but now we can talk about it. The Ontario Racing Commission is looking into whether Georgian Downs officials participated in a scheme to allow Anderlecht to qualify off a suspension in time to participate in the Confederation Cup. As it turned out, the colt was not a factor in the final. I look forward to hearing from the ORC what happened.

Here is part of the original email I got from Ed Martin (not the RCI Ed Martin, by the way). By posting it here I am NOT vouching for its accuracy:

"The trainer got a positive test on the colt earlier this year for Lidocaine. The trainer was suspended, and so was the horse. The horse was suspended for 90 days, which meant he was out of commission until Wednesday, August 13. That's my understanding of the matter, and that's what the trainer admits during her interview with Mr. (Harold) Howe (of the Harness Edge).

The entry box for the Confederation Cup closed on Wednesday, August 13 at 1 pm, which meant the connections of the pacer had to get him qualified before that point in order to be eligible to race. A qualifier, which wasn't even a qualifier - it was a workout due to the fact that only one horse was entered in the quasi-qualifier (as state the rules of racing)."

Andrew again: I suspect that there a few more sides to the story than the one offered by Ed Martin. If any of you have more to offer let me know and in the meantime I'll reserve judgment.

Comments

Murray Brown said...

Larry,
Exactly what was done against the rules to qualify as a "screw up"?

posted at 7:29 PM on Aug 24th 2008

Larry said...

SURPRISE SURPRISE yet another screw up by the powers that be in harness racing , as usual caught after the fact.

posted at 9:01 PM on Aug 23rd 2008

Dean said...

Garnet,

The horse tested in early May, not in the April 24th mile. He received a scrape on his hoof and she treated it with a small amount of childrens polysporin (the kind we use when our son or daughter fall of a swing and get a scrape/cut to prevent infection), and the tube contains a small amount of lidocaine. When the test for levels (the original test is a positive/negative with no test for levels) upon appeal came back and confirmed her story, the ORC reduced the large penalty originally given and she was set back three months.

Note to anyone in this business - read the labels on the Internet, if you already do not. Sometimes the labels on bottles of seemingly innocuous things are not clearly marked and it can get you in huge trouble due to trainer responsibility.

Dean
PS: All of the above is in the ORC appeal ruling on the standardbred canada site.

posted at 10:04 AM on Aug 23rd 2008

steve t said...

In the interview she said it was the GM of Flamboro who set it all up. You can still watch the interview on video at www.theharnessedge.com/videopodcast/index.html
It is listed on the bottom of the page.

posted at 8:01 AM on Aug 23rd 2008

Murray Brown said...

There may have certainly been extra concessions made for the connections of this horse in order to get a current line on him. But is that against the racing rules? I don't think so.
I recall several years ago a similar situation with one of Bill Wellwood's horses. Certainly there was no prior positve involved but Woody needed to get a current line on one of his his horses in order to maintain its eligibility for a race. If my memory is not at fault, he convinced the racing office and/or judges to allow him to qualify this horse on a Sunday morning.
I cannot see where any rules were broken or even bent. What apparently did happen was that the officials at the track went out of their way to allow a person to qualify a horse at a time when qualifiers are not normally held or scheduled. If this is against the rules, I would like to know which rule was being violated.

posted at 5:02 AM on Aug 23rd 2008

Garnet said...

I am guessing the race he tested positive in was his first start of the year when he closed in 25 and change from absolutely nowhere to nail a 1-5 shot. Lucky for me, I liked him because I remember he raced well fresh last year and I hit the $81 ex 10 times.

posted at 10:40 PM on Aug 22nd 2008

doug gillies said...

At least ontario has the orc to check into things like this!

posted at 8:21 PM on Aug 22nd 2008

Allan said...

I didn't read the post slow enough. I know the qualifier was at Georgian Downs but the condition sheet for Goergian Downs show qualifiers do not occur on Wednesday.

posted at 4:23 PM on Aug 22nd 2008

Allan said...

The condition sheets for Flamboro say qualifiers are on Fridays with entries taken on Thursdays. August 13th was a Wednesday. They should never had allowed the horse to qualify that morning. If they wanted to get the horse in, they should have had to ship to a track which had qualifiers that day (assuming they could legitimately enter before coming of the suspension list). Yes, it would have been an inconvenience for the horse's connections, but then, no one said the trainer should have had a positive which resulted in the horse being suspended.

Granted, this may not be a big deal in the scheme of things, but once again, the rules appear to be bent for someone's benefit.

posted at 4:19 PM on Aug 22nd 2008

Good for the ORC for Looking Into Suspicious Qualifier

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