Virginia Administrative Code › Title 11 - GAMING › Agency 10 - VIRGINIA RACING COMMISSION › Chapter 50 - RACING OFFICIALS › Part II - Personnel › Section 11VAC10-50-100 - Starter

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Flat races. The
				  licensee shall appoint a qualified person to act as starter for a flat race
				  meeting. The starter shall be responsible for the fair and equal start of all
				  horses at the scheduled starting time by means of a starting gate and bell.
				  Among the duties of the starter are:
1.
				  Ensuring that two operable starting gates are available at all times during
				  racing days and that the starting gates are clean, neat and in good
				  repair;
2. Permitting no horses to
				  be entered in a race unless approved by the starter;
3. Maintaining a starter's list of the
				  horses' names and posting the list in the racing secretary's office of those
				  ineligible to start because lack of training or bad behavior at entering or
				  leaving the starting gate;
4.
				  Schooling those horses which are on the starter's list by being present with an
				  adequate number of assistant starters during hours approved by the stewards,
				  and approving those horses for entry which are making their first lifetime
				  starts;
5. Appointing assistant
				  starters who shall not handle or take charge of a horse in the starting gate
				  without the express instructions from the starter;
6. Changing daily the gate position of each
				  assistant starter without notice to the assistant starters until the field for
				  the first race comes upon the racing surface;
7. Taking all necessary measures to ensure a
				  fair and equal start;
8. Overseeing
				  the post parade of the horses, jockeys, outriders and pony riders from the time
				  they arrive on the track until the start is effected;
9. Ensuring that no jockey dismounts without
				  the permission of the starter. A jockey may dismount only due to accident or
				  injury to horse or jockey or equipment adjustment; in that case the starter may
				  permit all jockeys to dismount. The starter shall delay the start until all
				  jockeys have remounted their horses;
10. Ensuring that no other person than the
				  jockey shall help in effecting a start by striking a horse or shouting at it or
				  otherwise assisting;
11. Causing
				  all horses, so far as is practical, to be loaded in order of post position, but
				  the starter may, in his discretion, load an unruly or fractious horse out of
				  order;
12. Reporting to the
				  stewards any disobedience of his orders or attempts to take unfair advantage at
				  the starting gate and recommending penalties for offenders;
13. Maintaining a written record showing the
				  names of all starters during the racing day and the names of the assistant
				  starters who handled each horse, and making the record available to stewards
				  upon request;
14. Notifying the
				  stewards immediately of any significant failure of the starting gate, or any
				  defect in the starting process if any horse is not in the starting gate when
				  the field is dispatched, or for any other reason a horse does not receive a
				  fair start; and
15. Keeping in
				  constant radio or telephone communication with the stewards from the time the
				  horses leave the paddock until the horses leave the starting gate.