2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIFTEEN - Sports and Parks (§§ 1 — 2020) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 915) › Chapter 11 - Horse Racing (§§ 181 — 198y) › § 198b - Definitions

For the purposes of §§ 198—198y of this title, the terms listed below shall have the following meaning:
(1) Administration. — Means the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration, which may be identified for all legal purposes by its Spanish acronym “AIDH”.
(2) Administrator. — Means the Horse Racing Administrator.
(3) Racing agent. — Means the independent contractor designated by the operating enterprise and authorized by the Horse Racing Administrator to officially receive the bets authorized by §§ 198—198y of this title and the regulations adopted by the Horse Racing Board.
(4) Year. — Means a calendar year.
(5) Attorney in fact. — Means the authorized representative of the horse owner, the owner of the horse ranch or breeder duly authorized by a power of attorney and by a license issued by the Administrator, to operate as the owner’s attorney in fact.
(6) Bets. — Means those bets authorized by §§ 198—198y of this title, the Horse Racing Regulations or the Horse Racing Board.
(7) Restricted areas. — Means those areas within any dependency under the jurisdiction of the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration whose access is limited to those persons who meet the specific requirements established in §§ 198—198y of this title, the Horse Racing Regulations and all those other regulations prescribed by the Horse Racing Board.
(8) Mutuel. — Means the place or places officially designated by the Racing Board for betting on each individual race and the betting system known by that name.
(9) Race. — Means a competition between horses for a prize, conducted in the presence of officials of the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration, pursuant to the law and the applicable regulations in effect.
(10) Claiming race. — Means a race in which any horse entered therein may be claimed and purchased for a previously fixed sum by any race horse owner with a current license.
(11) Justified cause for removal. — Means negligence or manifest disability of a person to perform his/her duties or the commission of a felony or a misdemeanor entailing moral turpitude.
(12) Classic. — Means a race with an additional prize in which a special fee is required for the registration of horses.
(13) Natural condition of a horse. — Means that physical condition of a racehorse which has undergone no human intervention through internal or external means that change the natural state of the racehorse.
(14) Stable. — means the structure where one or more stalls are located.
(15) Multiple combination pool ticket. — Means the printed form on which the combination of pool bets are noted.
(16) Moral turpitude. — Means the state or condition of an individual constituted by an inherent lack of a sense of morality and rectitude whereby a person has lost his/her concern for the respect and safety of human life and everything he/she does is essentially evil, painful, fraudulent, immoral, vile in nature and harmful in its results.
(17) Depressant or depressive. — Means any product, substance or medication that depresses a race horse.
(18) Day. — Means any period comprised between two (2) consecutive midnights.
(19) Race day. — means the period comprised between 12:01 o’clock in the morning and 12:00 midnight of the day on which races are held.
(20) Drug. — Means any product, substance, medication, pharmaceutical product, natural or compound preparation or combination of these, including all their metabolites, capable of stimulating, depressing or in any manner affecting or altering the natural condition of a horse.
(21) Owner. — Means any natural or juridical person who holds a license issued by the Administrator who is a bona fide owner of one or more horses.
(22) Daily double. — Means a bet to pick the winners of two (2) races specifically designated for such a bet.
(23) Horse. — Means a thoroughbred racehorse or colt of either sex.
(24) Operating enterprise. — Means a natural or juridical person authorized to operate a racetrack in Puerto Rico.
(25) Paddock. — Means the place designated for saddling the horse.
(26) Public trainer. — Means the trainer authorized to train racehorses and administer and operate a public stable as owner with five (5) or more pens assigned by the operating enterprise.
(27) Private trainer. — Means the trainer who receives a salary from the stable owner for exclusively training the horses of the latter.
(28) Entry. — Means two (2) horses participating in the same race that belong to the same owner or owners and that are deemed to be a single betting entry.
(29) Stable. — Means the structure where one or more stalls are located to board an owner’s horses.
(30) Stimulant. — Means any product, substance or medication that stimulates a race horse.
(31) Horse racing nuisance. — Means a person declared to be such by the Board according to the law, because his behavior alters or obstructs the normal development of the horse racing sport.
(32) Exacta. — Means a bet that consists in picking the horses that finish first and second in the races designated for said bets.
(33) Combined exacta. — Means a bet that consists in picking three (3) horses that finish first, second and third in any order, in the races designated for said bets.
(34) Racetrack. — Means the place authorized by the Horse Racing Board for holding horse races, including but not limited to, the arrival and starting gates, tracks, stands, bars, stable areas, paddocks, betting places, parking areas, and any other necessary facility.
(35) Registration. — Means the act of nominating a horse to take part in a race.
(36) Head of laboratory. — Means the chemist who meets the same professional requirements established for the Official Chemist, who may or may not be an official of the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration, and who shall be directly in charge of the laboratory where tests of samples of any nature taken from racehorses are conducted by or under the direct supervision of the Official Veterinarian. When a laboratory from any jurisdiction of the United States or from outside of Puerto Rico is involved, it must possess all authorizations and licenses required by law for the lawful exercise of its degree and profession in its jurisdiction.
(37) Jockey. — Means the person authorized to ride race horses through a license issued by the Administrator.
(38) Pari-mutuel. — Means the simple bets made for first place (win) and second place (place).
(39) Board. — Means the Horse Racing Board.
(40) Stewards. — Means the Horse Racing Stewards, as defined in § 198 l of this title.
(41) Act. — Mans the Puerto Rico Horse Racing Industry and Sport Act, §§ 198—198y of this title.
(42) Month. — Means a calendar month.
(43) Microfiche. — Means the photograph that reproduce to scale an archival document “microchip.”
(44) Groom. — Means the stable employee, stableman.
(45) Single combination pool ticket. — Means the printed form where a single combination of bets in each race in the pool is noted.
(46) Pool. — Means a prize awarded to a person who determines the largest number of winning horses and the largest number of winning horses minus one, as stipulated in the Horse Racing Regulations.
(47) Prize. — Means the sum of money received by the owner of a race horse for the performance of his/her horse in an official race as provided by regulations. It includes a regular, supplementary or retroactive prize received by the owner of a race horse for the performance of his/her horse in an official race and the benefits received on the bets on the races simulcast from Puerto Rico to overseas locations.
(48) Breeding place. — Means the farm and structure devoted to the breeding of thoroughbred race horses.
(49) Poolpote. — Accumulated prize which may be won by a single person, who on a race day is the sole person to pick the most horses that win the races valid for the pool in a single combination pool ticket or multiple combination pool ticket.
(50) Chairman. — Means the Chairman of the Horse Racing Board.
(51) Official program. — Means the program issued under the official seal of the Administration which contains all the races to be held on a race day and any other information required by the Administrator and the Racing Secretary. It constitutes the commitment between the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration and the betting public.
(52) Official Chemist. — Person with current license issued by the Board of Examiners of Chemists, active member of the Puerto Rico College of Chemists and holder of the authorization and licenses required by law to lawfully practice his/her profession in Puerto Rico. He/she shall be an employee of the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration, and shall be designated by the Horse Racing Administrator to exercise the functions assigned, including acting as expert when required. The duties of the Official Chemist and the Head of Laboratory may be fulfilled by the same person if the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration has its own laboratory.
(53) Quinella. — Means the wager that consists in determining the horses that arrive in the first and second positions, or inverted, in the races designated for said wager.
(54) Veterinary prescription. — A written order issued by an authorized veterinarian for administering a certain dose of medication or drug(s) allowed for a particular race horse.
(55) Claim. — Means the act of purchasing a thoroughbred horse that participates in a claiming race.
(56) Genealogical Register. — Means the registry book of thoroughbred horses indicating the genealogy, filiation, ownership and any other element essential to its juridical protection. Known as Stud Book and prepared in Puerto Rico.
(57) Regulations. — Means the Racing Regulations and any other set of regulations approved by the Horse Racing Board, as provided in §§ 198—198y of this title.
(58) SEA. — Spanish acronym for Electronic Betting System (Sistema Electrónico de Apuestas).
(59) Racing Secretary. — Means the official appointed by the Horse Racing Administrator who shall be in charge of preparing a bulletin indicating the racing conditions according to the Racing Plan issued by the Horse Racing Board. He/she directs the whole process for the registration of race horses that participate in official races.
(60) Simulcasting. — Simultaneous live and direct broadcasting of racing events held in foreign racetracks for taking bets on these. This term also refers to racing events held in Puerto Rico to be broadcast overseas for taking bets in another country on those races held in Puerto Rico.
(61) Superfecta. — Means the bet that consists on picking, in exact order, those horses that finish first, second, third and fourth in the races designated for that type of betting.
(62) Total gross bets. — Means the total amount bet without discounting the deductions provided in § 198s of this title.
(63) Trifecta. — Means the best that consists on picking in exact order, those horses that finish first, second and third in the races designated for that type of betting.
(64) Usage and custom. — Form of initial customary law, less solemn than the written laws whose usage is supplemental in the absence of applicable laws.
(65) Authorized veterinarian. — Means a veterinarian with a current license to practice veterinary medicine in Puerto Rico who is an active member of the College of Veterinarians of Puerto Rico and who has furthermore obtained the official authorization of the Horse Racing Administrator to practice his/her profession in dependencies and areas subject to the control and restrictions of the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration.
(66) Official Veterinarian. — Means a veterinarian with a current license to practice veterinary medicine in Puerto Rico who is an active member of the College of Veterinarians of Puerto Rico, and appointed by the Horse Racing Administrator to render professional veterinary services to the Horse Racing Industry and Sport Administration under the provisions of the Racing Act, the current Racing Regulations and those Orders or Resolutions issued by the Horse Racing Board or the Horse Racing Administrator.
History —July 2, 1987, No. 83, p. 296, § 3; June 5, 2004, No. 139, § 1.