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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND NO. 1616 SEPTEMBER TERM, 1998

MARYLAND RACING COMMISSION v. BARBARA J. BELOTTI

Thieme, Smith, Marvin H. (Retired, Specially Assigned) Sharer, J. Frederick (Specially Assigned) JJ.

Opinion by Smith, J.

Filed: December 1, 1999

The Maryland Racing Commission (the Commission) appeals the decision of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City that reversed the Commission's disqualification of a horse owned by Barbara Belotti, appellee, and resultant redistribution of purse monies. For our

review, the Commission presents the following questions, which we have rephrased slightly: I. Did the circuit court err in reversing the decision of the Maryland Racing Commission to disqualify a horse from its first place finish after the horse participated in the race while carrying an impermissible drug in its body? II. Was it reversible error not to provide notice of a Stewards'1 hearing to the owner of the horse? This case concerns the Commission's response to the presence of an impermissible drug, Lasix, found in a post-race urine sample taken from a horse who had won its race at Laurel Park. We reverse

the circuit court because the decision to disqualify the horse lay squarely within the discretion of the Commission.

The Maryland Racing Commission and its Control of the Administration of Drugs to Horses in Thoroughbred Racing The Commission is provided for in title 11 of the Business Regulation Article of the Maryland Code. Subtitle 2 establishes

the Commission, provides for its membership and staff, and sets forth its general powers. The powers of the Commission are not

The Stewards are "individuals appointed by the Commission to enforce the regulations of the Commission at a thoroughbred race track." COMAR 09.10.03.01B(3).

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particularized; instead, section 11-210 authorizes the Commission to "adopt regulations and conditions to govern racing and betting on racing in the State[.]" In Jacobson v. Maryland Racing Comm'n,

261 Md. 180 (1971), the Court of Appeals discussed the broad powers delegated to the Commission: Horse racing is an endeavor and undertaking that necessarily must be the subject of intensive, extensive and minute regulation. It exists only because it is financed by the receipts from controlled legalized gambling which must be kept as far above suspicion as possible, not only to sustain and profit the racing fraternity but to feed substantial ... millions to the State's revenues. Not surprisingly the legislature has given the Commission full power to control racing. Id. at 183 (citation omitted). "The Legislature's purpose in

granting to the Racing Commission the authority to promulgate rules was to assure that horse races in Maryland are `conducted fairly, decently and clean[ly].'" Heft v. Maryland Racing Comm'n, 323 Md.

257, 263-64 (1991) (quoting Mahoney v. Byers, 187 Md. 81, 84 (1946)). "The statute combined with the Commission's rules and

regulations provide a comprehensive scheme for the regulation of horse racing in Maryland." (1984). Silbert v. Ramsey, 301 Md. 96, 105

The regulations of the Commission are more than merely helpful hints to those engaged in the horse racing industry. They are also precise rubrics, intended to ensure the integrity of the industry and to protect the public against fraud and corruption. They do this, in part, by establishing certain 2

specific procedures to be followed in the running of races, by requiring nearly everyone participating in the conduct of racing to be licensed, and by placing specific responsibility on the various licensees to follow the mandated procedures. Sanders v. Rowan, 61 Md. App. 40, 58 (1984). Racing Comm'n v. Castrenze, 335 Md. 284, See also Maryland 294 (1994) ("[T]he

Commission performs an active role of policy formation in order to ensure the integrity of horse racing in this State"). The extensive regulations promulgated by the Commission

address the administration of drugs to horses racing in Maryland. In general, the administration of a drug2 to a horse prior to a

2

COMAR 09.10.03.01B(1) defines what is a drug: (1) Drug. Except for phenylbutazone, quantitated at less than 2 micrograms per milliliter of the blood plasma of a horse, and Furosemide (Lasix), as prescribed in Regulation .08 of this chapter, "drug" means a substance: (a) Which does not exist naturally in the untreated horse at a normal physiological concentration; (b) Defined as a controlled dangerous substance under Article 27,

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