Chapter 14: Overnight Events

14.01  For the purpose of this rule, overnight events shall include conditioned, claiming, preferred, invitational, handicap, open, free-for-all, schooling or matinee races or a combination thereof.

14.02  At extended meetings, condition sheets must be available to participants at least 24 hours prior to closing declarations to any race program contained therein. At other meetings, conditions must be posted and available to participants at least 18 hours prior to closing declarations.

14.03  Deleted.

14.04  Substitute races may be provided for each race program and shall be so designated in condition books. A substitute race may be used when a regularly scheduled race fails to fill.

14.05  Regularly scheduled races or substitute races may be divided where necessary to fill a program of racing, or may be divided and carried over to a subsequent racing program, subject to the following:

1. No such divisions shall be used in the place of regularly scheduled races which fill;
2. Where races are divided in order to fill a program, starters for each division must be determined by lot after preference has been applied, unless the conditions provide for divisions based upon age, performance, earnings or sex.

14.06  Conditions:

1. May be based only on:
   1. Horses’ money winnings in a specified number of previous races or during a specified previous time;
   2. Horses’ finishing positions in a specified number of previous races or during a specified period of time;
   3. Age;
   4. Sex;
   5. Number of starts during a specified period of time;
   6. Based on the purse a horse previously raced for;
   7. The exclusion of schooling races; or
   8. Ontario Sired, Ontario Bred, or Ontario Sired Stakes eligible;
   9. A combination of any one or more of the qualifications listed under this section.; or
   10. Horses who have raced for a specific claiming price in one of their last three (3) starts.
2. Shall not be written in such a way that any horse is deprived of an opportunity to race in a normal preference cycle. Where the word preference is used in a condition, it shall only supersede date preference as provided in the Rules. Not more than three also eligible conditions shall be used in writing the conditions for overnight events;
3. The Registrar may, upon application from the race secretary, approve conditions other than those listed above for special events.

14.07  In the event there are conflicting published conditions and neither one nor the other is withdrawn by the Association, the one more favourable to the declarer shall govern.

14.08  For the purpose of eligibility, a racing season or racing year shall be the calendar year. All races based on winnings will be programmed Non-Winners of $ .......... or Winners over $....... Additional conditions may be added. When recording winnings, gross winnings shall be used and cents shall be disregarded.

14.09  Records, time bars or place of residence of the owner of a horse declared into an event shall not be used as a condition of eligibility, save and except in the case of stakes races where time bars as provided in Rule 11.02.01 constitute a condition of eligibility.

14.10  Horses must be eligible when declarations close subject to the provision that:

1. Wins and winnings on or after the closing date of declarations shall not be considered;
2. Age allowances shall be given according to the age of the horse on the date the race is contested;
3. In mixed races, trotting and pacing, a horse must be eligible under the conditions for the gait at which it is stated in the declaration the horse will perform.

14.11  When conditions refer to previous performances, those performances shall only include those in a purse race. Each dash or heat shall be considered as a separate performance for the purpose of condition races.

14.12  In overnight events, not more than one trailer shall be permitted, regardless of the size of the track. At least eight feet per horse must be provided for the starters in the front tier. Exceptions on field sizes can be granted with the permission of the Commission.

14.13  The race secretary may reject the declaration to an overnight event of any horse whose past performance indicates that it would be above or below the competitive level of other horses declared to that particular event.