§ 205.32. Powers of the Judges.
(a) General powers. In matters pertaining to racing, the orders of the Judges shall supersede the orders of the officers and directors of the association. The Judges shall have the authority to regulate and supervise the conduct of the race meeting and licensed personnel, racing officials, owners, trainers, drivers, grooms and all other persons participating in pari-mutuel racing activities at the race meeting, unless the power and the duty is exclusively vested in the Commission.
(b) The authority of the Board of Judges shall begin at least 10 days prior to the beginning of the race meeting and shall terminate with the completion of their business pertaining to the meeting. This period may be modified or altered as deemed necessary by the Commission. If a dispute is unresolved at the time, it may be heard later or disposed of by the Judges or referred to the Commission. This section does not limit the power of the Judges to impose sanctions which continue beyond the end of the race meeting.
(c) If there is a succeeding meeting approved to begin at the same racetrack, the power of the Judges at the meetings is deemed to be continuing and sustaining.
(d) Specific powers. The Presiding Judge and Associate Judges shall have the authority to:
(1) Impose all necessary fines and penalties in accordance with the act and as specifically set forth in the Commission’s regulations.
(2) Determine all questions of fact relating to the race and resolve conflicts and disputes related to racing and discipline violators in accordance with these regulations.
(3) Decide any disputes between parties to the race or any contingent racing matter not specifically covered by the rules, but which, in the Judges’ opinion, may negatively impact the public interest or the public’s perception of racing.
(4) Declare pools and bets ‘‘Off’’ in case of fraud, or to declare any horse a nonstarter and to direct the refund of all wagers made thereon. All pools and bets shall follow the decisions of the Judges. These decisions in respect to pools and bets shall be made before or after the conclusion of the race upon the observations of the Judges and upon the facts as an immediate investigation will develop. A reversal or change of decision after the official placing at the conclusion of a heat or dash shall not affect the distribution of the betting pools made upon the official placing.
(5) Declare a dash or heat of a race no contest in the event that a track is thrown into darkness during the progress of a race by failure of electricity.
(6) Postpone or cancel races in the event of unfavorable weather conditions or for any other reason related to the health and safety of the horse and those participating in the race.
(7) Conduct administrative hearings in accordance with Chapter 179, Subchapter B (relating to Judges and Stewards hearings) and compel the attendance of witnesses, the submission of documents or potential evidence related to any investigation or hearing and may administer oaths and examine witnesses.
(8) Consider complaints of foul from the patrol Judges or drivers in the race.
(9) To have reasonable control over and access to restricted and unrestricted areas including stands, paddock, stables, barns and other areas of the racetrack enclosure.
(10) To direct the examination a horse stabled on the racetrack grounds, or in a stabling area approved by the licensed racing entity.
(11) Inspect from time to time license documents, registration papers and other documents related to racing.
(12) Consult with the Commission Veterinarian to determine the nature and seriousness of a laboratory finding or an alleged medication violation.
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
