A few recent harness rulings…
Running Aces, May 12: “Driver Scott Cisco tested positive for alcohol with a reading of .016% – Cisco took test a second time [and] registered 0.17% [I assume they meant .017%]. Cisco is hereby fined $250 and was removed from his qualifying drives on May 12.”
Bangor, May 17: “While driving [14-year-old] J Js Delivery, Louis Gasbarro III did strike his horse before the gate opened.” Fined $300, suspended two days.
Bangor, May 17: “While driving [8-year-old] No Better Joy, Michael Stevenson struck his horse after the finish line.” Fined $300, suspended two days.
Plainridge, May 26: “[Driver] Michael Oosting submitted to a breath analyzer test that resulted in a reading of 0.13%. The test was done twice with the same result. Oosting has agreed to take his three suspension days [of course he did].” They added: “Subsequent violations of this rule will result in increased penalties.”
Bangor, May 27: “While driving [12-year-old] Little Power, Benson Merrill did indeed use his whip 10 times down the stretch run without giving his horse time to respond.” Fined $500, suspended 10 days. Another Merrill abuse case here.
Harrington, Jun 1: “Brandon Cruse is issued a 14-day suspension for whipping when out of contention.” They added: “This is Cruse’s 7th whipping violation since Sep 12 [here is one]. Any future whipping violations will result in longer suspensions with added fines.”
Wanda, What a devastating experience to live through! A close relative was also hit & run on his way to work at a local high end restaurant when he was only 17. He was hit so bad that his left hip was shattered! He was having to ride his Honda 65 to work as our neighborhood had nasty jealous people in it because his work where he earned lots of $$ from hard work. He did everything from preparing steaks,salads, roasts, baking foods,etc. The jealous people in our old neighborhood flattened all his tires on his Ford car. He was in a full length body cast for 2 years! He graduated from high school in his body cast. No artificial hips yet in 1968. To this day his left leg is shorter by 3/4″ & cold damp weather as we have here in Oregon cause him to limp greatly. We never did find out who it was. Only that a white truck had hit him & left him for dead! His very good helmet saved his life! ALWAYS ride a horse or motorcycle with a helmet!
It sounds like some of these harness tracks are having Happy Hour way too early. Absolutely disgusting.
That is an interesting question about whether they meant 0.17% blood alcohol concentration or if they did actually mean 0.017% blood alcohol concentration. Since his BAC did increase from 0.016%, it’s hard to say for sure how much he drank between testing.
While driving my car in 1974 and approaching an intersection, I was hit by a drunk driver. I was knocked out. I had a brain concussion and a broken nose. The force of my head/nose hitting the steering wheel bent the top half of the steering wheel forward. I don’t know how I wasn’t killed. Long story shorter, I was told later on that the drunk driver’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.17% which was considered high. It was a hit and run that happened to be about a half of a block south of the city police station. After I woke up, I heard a man bystander off in the distance say to someone else who may have been a witness, “That was his third hit-and-run.” So that’s when I got a clue about what happened.
Glad to see you`re covering harness horses. In our limited experience with harness horses they are equally handled & raced & live on farms in not good conditions. We once stayed at a harness breeding farm located across from Seattle, Washington on the west side of Puget Sound. The conditions of that farm especially during wet , rainy season were appalling! 1/2 the property would be under water & the house provided to the farm workers had a leaky roof. The owner was a hotel owner in downtown Seattle & raced his horses on the East coast & in the 1990`s some small meets in California. The stallion of that farm we wish we could have taken home with us. He was of a very good temperament. Small operation with only a few horses.