Race Horse Wardrobe Malfunction May Prove Costly to Owner

Sept. 22, 2011 - Texas Racing Commission v. Marquez, a recent opinion from the Austin Court of Appeals, involved a horse race where two horses owned by Javier Marquez were inadvertently wearing each other’s saddle cloth numbers. One of the horses suffering from this “wardrobe malfunction” finished second, and the race stewards disqualified both horses and redistributed the race purse.

When the Texas Racing Commission refused to hear Marquez’s appeal of the stewards’ decision, Marquez sued the Texas Racing Commission and its executive director, Charla Ann King.

Marquez won big in the trial court. The trial court declared that Ms. King acted in excess of her statutory authority by refusing Marquez’s appeal, by disqualifying Marquez’s horses, and by redistributing the race purse. The trial court also awarded Marquez his attorneys’ fees under the Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act, and ordered the second place race purse distributed to Marquez. The Racing Commission appealed the decision.

On appeal, the Austin Court of Appeals found that Ms. King did exceed her authority in denying Marquez’s appeal of the stewards’ decision and upheld Marquez’s attorneys’ fees award under the Declaratory Judgment Act. However, the Court of Appeals vacated and dismissed the portion of the trial court’s judgment that awarded the second place race purse to be distributed to Marquez.

The trial court’s logic: TheTexas Racing Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the issue of the second place race purse. Marquez needs to exhaust his administrative remedies by moving forward with his appeal before the Texas Racing Commission that he fought for in the trial court.

Ironically, the Texas Racing Commission (the same entity that Marquez sued and fought on appeal) will get to decide whether or not Marquez will get the purse that his horse won when it was wearing the wrong “outfit”.

Alison Rowe - Equine Law http://equinelaw.alisonrowe.com