| (a) The starter is responsible for assuring that each participant receives a fair start. (b) A horse is considered a starter for all purposes when the stall doors of the starting gate open in front of the horse at the time the starter dispatches the horses in a valid start. (c) If, when the starter dispatches the field, any door at the front of the starting gate stalls should not open properly due to a mechanical failure or malfunction or should any action by any starting personnel directly cause a horse to receive an unfair start, the stewards may declare such a horse a non-starter. (d) Should a horse, not scratched prior to the start, not be in the starting gate stall thereby causing it to be left when the field is dispatched by the starter, the horse shall be declared a non-starter by the stewards. (e) Should an accident or malfunction of the starting gate, or other unforeseeable event, compromise the fairness of the race or the safety of race participants, the stewards may declare individual horses to be non-starters, exclude individual horses from all pari-mutuel pools, or declare a "no contest" and refund all wagers except as otherwise provided in the rules involving multi-race wagers. |
