How to Read the AGCO Rules of Standardbred Racing online

The AGCO Rules of Standardbred Racing, Rules of Thoroughbred Racing and Directives provide the official AGCO rules that apply to racetracks and horse racing participants in Ontario under Commission jurisdiction.

Rules of Standardbred Racing and Rules of Thoroughbred Racing

The Rules of Standardbred Racing and the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing are composed of chapters on racing-related topics (such as Definitions, Licences and Claiming Races) and Directives issued by the Registrar to support understanding and provide updates.

Click on the buttons below to go to the Rules of Standardbred Racing and the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing, which contain the Quarter Horse Appendix detailing the applicable exceptions for pari-mutuel Quarter Horse Racing.

You can search for specific words or phrases in the either of the Rules by accessing the "Print All" function above, then using Ctrl-F or F3 to open your browser's in-page search box.

On the left hand side of your screen, you can use the:
- Table of Contents to browse the section headings with each set of Rules (note that subheadings for a given section will appear when you select that section)
- Links at the bottom of each page to move to the next/previous page in the Rules or to produce a printer-friendly version of a particular page
- Recent Updates section to see the 3 most recent updates to the Rules and the All Updates button for a list of Rule updates since November 2018
- Horse Racing menu to go to commonly used horse racing content elsewhere on the website: Horsepersons, Industry Resources, Operators and For the Public
Note: To create a printed copy of a complete set of Rules, use the “printer-friendly version” link on the main pages for each rule book. However, to stay current, you must rely on the online Rules to obtain the most up to date rules.
Click on Updates to Standardbred Rules and Updates to Thoroughbred Rules since November 2018 for a list of updates
- See the chart of all updates for a link to each Rule Chapter that has been updated, along with a link to the corresponding Directive or Bulletin outlining the change
- Click on the 1, 2, 3, next links at the bottom of the page to move to the next/previous page
- Click on the Back to Rules of Standardbred (or Thoroughbred) Racing link to return to the Rules

Directives

Click on the links for information and updates on issues relating to directives for the following six categories: General, Administrative, Policy, Standardbred, Thoroughbred, and Quarter Horse.
In addition, some of these Directives are also located in the rule books as web pages.

Violations

Rulings

This section provides information on rulings related to violations or infractions of the Rules of Racing during the course of racing activity at a racetrack.

Adjudication