Pennsylvania Administrative Code

COMMISSION VETERINARIAN § 205.171. Qualifications. (a) The Commission Veterinarian shall: (1) Be employed by the Department as a Veterinary Medical Field Officer (VMFO), or as a temporary State veterinarian and appointed by the Commission to a racetrack under the jurisdiction of …

§ 205.172. Duties and responsibilities of the Commission Veterinarian. (a) The Commission’s Veterinarian, among other things, shall: (1) Inform the Judge that a horse has been deemed unsafe to race, or inhumane to allow to race and shall place that horse on the Veterinarian’s Lis…

§ 205.173. Veterinarian’s List. The Commission Veterinarian shall maintain a list to be known as the Veterinarian’s List upon which the name of a horse which is considered unfit, unsound or not ready for racing shall be placed. The Veterinarian’s List shall be binding on all lice…

RACETRACK VETERINARIAN § 205.191. General authority and duties. (a) The track veterinarian shall be attendant on the Judges and the race secretary at scratch time and shall examine the horse that they request and make reports to the racing officials as promptly as possible. (b) T…

§ 205.2. Required presence of officials in race. (a) In every race a Presiding Judge and two Associate Judges shall be present in the Judge’s stand and all other race officials as defined in § 201.1 (relating to definitions), with the exception of the track veterinarian and the h…

HORSE IDENTIFICATION § 205.201. Registration. All matters relating to the registration of Standardbred horses, unless otherwise provided for herein, shall be governed by the Rules of the USTA. Pennsylvania stallions, to be eligible for Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for any given year,…

§ 205.202. Horse identification records. (a) No horse may start in any race at an extended pari-mutuel or any other meeting unless it is fully identified. The burden of establishing the identity of a horse rests with the person or persons having charge of the horse at the meeting…

§ 205.203. Check on identity of a horse. Where a question of a horse’s identity or eligibility arises, a racing official may request verifying information regarding the horse’s identity and eligibility from the horse’s owner, trainer, driver or other person having control of the …

§ 205.204. False chart lines. Any official or person who enters a chart line on an electronic eligibility certificate when the race has not been charted by a licensed charter may be fined, suspended or ejected by the Commission.

§ 205.205. Tattoo/freeze brand/microchip requirements. A horse which has not been tattooed, freeze branded or implanted with a microchip as authorized by the USTA will not be permitted to start at a pari-mutuel meeting unless specific permission of the Presiding Judge is been obt…

RACING OFFICIALS § 205.21. Racing officials. Officials at a race meeting may include the following: (1) Board of Judges; (2) Race secretary; (3) Paddock Judge; (4) Horse identifier; (5) Clerk of course/charter; (6) Starter; (7) Timer/clocker; (8) Patrol Judge; (9) Program directo…

ELECTRONIC ELIGIBILITY § 205.211. Electronic eligibility. No horse will be permitted to race at a licensed racetrack facility under the jurisdiction of the Commission unless a current USTA electronic eligibility certificate at the proper gait has been obtained and approved by the…

§ 205.212. Issuance of electronic eligibility. Electronic eligibility shall be issued for the life of the horse. (a) Each registered owner of a horse must be a member in good standing with the USTA prior to the issuance of an electronic eligibility. If the horse is registered in …

§ 205.213. Leased horses. Any horse on a racing lease must race in the name of the lessee and must provide evidence to the Commission of the lease as filed with the, USTA.

§ 205.214. Corrections on electronic eligibility. Corrections on an electronic eligibility may be made only by the Commission, the Presiding Judge or a designee of the Commission.

§ 205.215. Conditioned races. For purposes of eligibility, a racing season or racing year shall be the calendar year. Conditions shall not be written in a way that any horse is deprived of an opportunity to race in a normal preference cycle. Where the word ‘‘preferred’’ is used i…

§ 205.216. Date eligibility determined. Horses must be eligible to the event when entries close. Winnings earned on the closing date of eligibility shall not be considered.

§ 205.217. Age of horses. No horse that is 15 years of age or older is eligible to perform in any race except in matinees, fair races, or races exclusively for amateur drivers as designated by the Commission and no electronic eligibility shall be issued for a horse except for a p…

§ 205.218. Prohibitions. (a) No electronic eligibility will be issued on any horse under 2 years of age. (b) No electronic eligibility shall be issued for a horse from which a positive Coggins test has been reported. (c) No electronic eligibility will be issued on any horse not p…

§ 205.22. Eligibility. To qualify as a racing official, the applicant shall, at a minimum be: (1) Of good character and reputation; (2) Experienced in harness racing; (3) Familiar with the duties of the position and with the Commission’s rules of harness racing; (4) Mentally and …

TYPES OF RACES OFFERED § 205.221. Standards for overnight events. The race secretary should prescribe standards to determine whether a horse is qualified to race in overnight events at a meeting. Where time standards are established at a meeting for both trotters and pacers, trot…

§ 205.222. Types of races to be offered. The racing secretary shall exclusively use the following types of races: (1) Stakes and futurities. (2) Early closing and late closing events. (3) Conditioned races. These qualifications may be based upon, among other things: (i) Horse’s m…

§ 205.223. Selection or drawing of horses. For all overnight events, Starters and ‘‘also eligible’’ shall be drawn by lot from those properly entered, except that a race secretary must establish a preference system for races as provided for in Rule 14.10 of the USTA.

§ 205.224. Splitting of conditioned races. When it is necessary to fill a card, not more than one conditioned race per day may be divided into not more than two divisions after preference has been applied and the divisions may be selected by the racing secretary. For all other ov…

§ 205.225. Substitute and divided races. Substitute races may be provided for each day’s program and shall be so designated. Entries in races not filling shall be posted. A substitute race or an event divided into two races shall be used only if regularly scheduled races fail to …

§ 205.226. Heats. A heat, if conducted, shall be considered as a separate race for the purposes of conditioned racing.

§ 205.227. Prohibitions. (a) A horse qualifying in a qualifying race for which no purse is offered shall not be deprived by reason of the performance of the right to start in any conditioned race. (b) No time records or bars shall be used as an element of a horse’s eligibility fo…

§ 205.228. Bonus earnings. In the case of a bonus, the present value of the bonus shall be credited to the horse as earnings for the race or series of races for which it received the bonus. It shall be the responsibility of the organization offering the bonus to report the presen…

§ 205.229. Supplemental purse payments. Supplemental purse payments made by a licensed racing entity after the end of a meeting will be charged and credited to the winnings of any horse at the end of the racing year in which they are distributed. The distribution shall not affect…

§ 205.23. Approval and licensing. The Commission may, on an annual basis or when otherwise needed, determine the eligibility of a racetrack or Commission racing official and, in its sole discretion, may approve or disapprove any official for licensing.

§ 205.230. Classified races. Classified races are permitted only when authorized by the Commission.

§ 205.231. Exhibition races. When non-betting promotional races are conducted by licensed racing entities, these races shall be regarded as exhibitions and the horses’ performances in those races shall not be noted on electronic eligibility or otherwise officially credited to eit…

§ 205.24. Prohibited practices. While serving in an official capacity, racing officials and their assistants shall not: (1) Participate in the sale or purchase, or ownership of any horse actively racing at the meeting; (2) Sell or solicit horse insurance on any horse racing at th…

§ 205.25. Appointment. (a) A person shall not be appointed to more than one racing official position at a meeting unless specifically approved by the Commission.

CLAIMING RACES § 205.251. Claiming regulations and procedures. (a) A licensed owner, trainer or any other person properly licensed may claim any horse in a claiming race if the owner, trainer or licensee has on credit with the licensed racing entity conducting the race, an amount…

§ 205.252. Equine Infectious Anemia testing. (a) If claimant indicates on the claiming form that the claimant desires a blood sample to test for Equine Infectious Anemia EIA, a licensed veterinarian shall immediately after the race take a blood sample from the claimed horse. The …

§ 205.26. Appointment of substitute officials. The licensed racing entity shall immediately notify the Judges where an emergency vacancy exists among racetrack racing officials and shall fill the vacancy immediately. This appointment shall be reported to the Commission and shall …

NOMINATIONS AND ADDED MONEY EVENTS § 205.271. Making a nomination. All nominations must: (1) Be made in writing. (2) Give name and address of the registered owner and lessee. (3) Give name, color, sex, sire and dam of horse. (4) Name the event or events in which the horse is to b…

§ 205.272. Receipt of nomination and sustaining payments. (a) All nomination and sustaining payments not actually received at the hour of closing shall be ineligible except those by letter bearing a postmark not later than the following day (omitting Sunday or a legal Federal hol…

§ 205.273. Postage mark. Where a nomination is received by letter bearing the postage meter date without any postmark placed thereon by the post office, this postage meter date shall be considered to be a postmark for the purposes of this rule, if the letter is actually received …

§ 205.274. Failure to make payment. Failure to make any payment required by the conditions constitutes an automatic withdrawal from the event.

§ 205.275. Event sponsor membership. All stake, futurity, early closing and late closing event sponsors or presenters must be members of the USTA.

§ 205.276. Event sponsor requirements. Event sponsors shall: (a) If possible, advertise the week and place the stake or futurity will be raced before taking nominations. Otherwise announcement of the week and place shall be made as soon as the stake or futurity is sold or awarded…

§ 205.277. Date of nomination closing and sustaining payments due. (a) The date for closing of nominations of yearlings to stakes shall be May 15th and the date for closing of the nominations to futurities shall be July 15th. There shall be no payments on yearlings except a nomin…

§ 205.278. Estimated purse. No estimated purse shall be advertised or published in excess of the actual purse paid or distributed during the previous year unless increased by guaranteed added money. No stake or futurity shall be raced for less than 75% of the estimated purse.

§ 205.279. Excess entry fees. In early closing events, late closing events and overnight events requiring entry fees all moneys paid in by the nominators in excess of 85% of the advertised purse shall be added to the advertised purse and the total shall then be considered to be t…

§ 205.280. Sponsor’s contribution. No stake or futurity shall be approved for extended pari-mutuel meetings if the sponsor’s contribution of added money is not at least 30% of the purse and for all other meetings at least 10% of the purse shall be added.