Section 90. Placing judge

The licensee shall appoint three qualified persons to act as placing judges for a flat race meeting. The judges shall occupy a stand directly above the finish line during the running of each race. Among the duties of the placing judges are:

1. Placing horses at the finish of race. The placing judges shall only consider the position of the horses' noses and not any other part of the body;

2. Placing the horses in the order of finish and displaying the result on the infield results board;

3. Calling for a photograph from the photo-finish camera when the finish indicates a close finish or when the judges are not in unanimous agreement as to the correct order of finish;

4. Referring photo-finish photographs to the stewards for concurrence before the order of finish is displayed on the infield results board, when the placing judges are not in unanimous agreement or there is an apparent dead heat following the examination of the photograph;

5. Submitting to the stewards and the horsemen's bookkeeper at the conclusion of each racing day a list of the placings of those in each race and those horses which did not finish;

6. Correcting errors in the displaying of the order of finish on the infield results board, with the permission of the stewards, before the race is declared "official" by the stewards; and

7. For Standardbred race meetings, the stewards may act as placing judges; however, all three stewards shall inspect any photo-finish and be in unanimous agreement before posting the order of finish.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR662-03-01 § 2.8, eff. December 19, 1990.

Statutory Authority

§ 59.1-369 of the Code of Virginia.