Owner Continues Fight on 'Jail-Time' Rules

Confident federal courts will smile on his opinion that state "jail-time" rules restricting when and where a claimed horse can race go against federal commerce laws, among others, owner Jerry Jamgotchian will file another lawsuit Oct. 7 in a United States District Court.

Earlier this year Jamgotchian filed federal litigation against Indiana's restrictions on claimed horses. He will add Pennsylvania to the list Friday when he files a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. Jamgotchian also is seeking a hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court on Kentucky's version of the rules, which held up to court scrutiny through that state's Supreme Court.

The Pennsylvania case, in which Jamgotchian's trainer Eric Reed also is listed as a plaintiff, involves their claim of Tiz A Sweep for $25,000 in a Sept. 8 claiming race at Presque Isle Downs. Jamgotchian knew of the state rule that prohibits horses claimed in the state from racing outside Pennsylvania until after the meet at which it was claimed ends. In this case, that date would have been Oct. 6.

Oddly enough, Jamgotchian this year previously requested and received a waiver of the "jail-time" rule from the PHRC to race another horse he had claimed in Pennsylvania, Super Humor, who he claimed in late August at Presque Isle. 

In the case of Tiz A Sweep, as outlined by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, a waiver request was made but the PHRC did not promptly respond to his request and, according to the suit, offered no time-frame of when Jamgotchian would receive an answer. The suit contends that this delay had the same effect of denying the waiver request.

On Sept. 20, Brook Duer, chief counsel with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, sent Jamgotchian an email stating his waiver request was under legal review that would take some time because of the number of documents submitted by Jamgotchian and the legal issues raised.

Jamgotchian said Pennsylvania is of special concern in terms of "jail-time" rules because Penn National Race Course and Parx Racing conduct year-long racing, meaning the rule could require horsemen to wait until the end of the year to take a claimed horse out of state.

"We did analysis on all of the horses claimed at Parx and Penn National and the rule isn't even being enforced," Jamgotchian said. "They're not even enforcing their rules. Horses claimed at Penn National and Parx race elsewhere all the time."