Section 71IAC7-1-35. Eligibility for racing and ownership status

   (a) The commission, its executive secretary, the stewards, judges, and the commission's director of security (collectively, the "commission or the commission's designee"), shall have the right to require an entrant of a horse to verify information contained within the entry blank forms and declarations as well as other eligibility requirements for a particular race. In addition, the commission, or the commission's designee, shall have the right to make a determination of whether a certain horse is or was eligible to participate in a race. The burden of proving eligibility, by clear and convincing evidence, in such a situation, will be on the entrant.

  (b) The commission, or the commission's designee, may require sufficient evidence from an entrant of ownership status, residency, or other information required for eligibility prior to allowing a horse to compete in a restricted race or in any race at the meet.

  (c) After a race, the commission, or the commission's designee, may, upon reasonable suspicion, conduct an inquiry and make a determination as to ownership status, residency, or other information required for eligibility of an entrant.

  (d) In considering the matter of ownership status, the commission, or the commission's designee, may review any information which it deems relevant, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) a bill of sale;

(2) a proof of funds transfer, including, but not limited to, a canceled check, a wire transfer, or other similar form of proof; and

(3) a completed ownership transfer on the USTA or Jockey Club registration certificate, whichever is applicable.

  (e) An entry must be one hundred percent (100%) owned by an Indiana resident and/or residents to be entered in any Indiana owned race. Corporate or partnership ownership requires all shareholders or partners, respectively, to be residents to be entered in any Indiana owned race. If a lease is involved for a standardbred horse, all lessors and lessees must be Indiana residents.

  (f) All Indiana owned standardbreds must be wholly owned by an Indiana resident(s) by January 1 (claimed and public sale horses excepted) and remain so through its participation in any Indiana owned race in any given year. The association or a breed development advisory committee may establish a date for a special race or series of races other than that established by the commission provided that such date is no later than that established by the commission and such date must be published on the nomination blank.

  (g) All Indiana owned horses must be fully paid for by the Indiana owner(s) no later than the date established by the commission in subsection (f). The payment of the purchase price over time or through earnings beyond the date established in subsection (f) is prohibited and such horses shall be deemed ineligible to be nominated, entered, or raced as Indiana owned.

  (h) In considering the matter of residency:

(1) "Residence", as the term is used in the context of this statement, means the place where an individual has their permanent home, at which that person remains when not called elsewhere for labor or other special or temporary purposes, and to which that person returns in seasons of repose. It is a place a person has voluntarily fixed as a permanent habitation with an intent to remain in such place for an indefinite period. A person at any one (1) time has but one (1) residence and a residence cannot be lost until another is gained.

(2) The commission, or the commission's designee, may review the information which is deemed relevant, including, but not limited to, the following:

(A) where the person lives and has been living;

(B) the location of the person's source(s) of income;

(C) the address used by the person for the payment of taxes, including federal, state, and property taxes;

(D) the state in which the person's personal automobiles are registered;

(E) the state issuing the person a driver's license;

(F) the state in which the person is registered to vote;

(G) ownership of property in Indiana and outside Indiana;

(H) the residence used for USTA membership and USTA or Jockey Club registration of a horse, whichever is applicable;

(I) the residence claimed by a person on a loan application or other similar document; or

(J) membership in civic, community, and other organizations in Indiana and elsewhere.

(3) None of these factors, when considered alone, shall be dispositive. Consideration of all of the factors together, as well as a person's expressed intention, shall be considered in arriving at a determination.

(4) Owners are required to meet the residence requirements as of January 1 for that year's racing season.

  (i) Each owner and trainer, or the authorized agent of an owner or trainer, or the nominator (collectively, the "entrant"), is required to disclose the true and entire ownership and the true and bona fide trainer of each horse with the racing secretary, and to disclose any changes in the owners or trainer of each registered horse to both the racing secretary, the stewards, or judges. A licensee or racing official, including the racing secretary, shall immediately report any questions concerning the ownership status or the identity of the true and bona fide trainer of a horse to the stewards or judges, and the stewards or judges may place such a horse on the steward's or judge's list. A horse placed on the steward's or judge's list shall be ineligible to start in a race until questions concerning the ownership status or the identity of the true and bona fide trainer of the horse are answered to the satisfaction of the commission, or the commission's designee, and the horse is removed from the steward's or judge's list.

  (j) If the commission, or the commission's designee, finds a lack of sufficient evidence of ownership status, residency, or other information required for eligibility, prior to a race, the commission, or the commission's designee, may order the entrant's horse scratched from the race or ineligible to participate.

  (k) After a race, the commission, or the commission's designee, may, upon reasonable suspicion, withhold purse money pending an inquiry of ownership status, residency, or other information required for eligibility. If the purse money is ultimately forfeited, because of a determination of the commission, or the commission's designee, the purse money shall be redistributed per order of the commission or the commission's designee.

  (l) If the purse money has been paid prior to reasonable suspicion, the commission, or the commission's designee, may conduct an inquiry and make a determination. If the commission, or the commission's designee, determines there has been a violation of ownership status, residency, or other information required for eligibility, it shall order the purse money returned and redistributed per order of the commission or the commission's designee.

  (m) Any entrant, which is found to have violated the qualification for a race, including knowingly providing false information or refusing to provide or concealing information, is also subject to sanctions by the commission. (Indiana Horse Racing Commission; 71 IAC 7-1-35; emergency rule filed May 12, 1997, 3:15 p.m.: 20 IR 2822; emergency rule filed Feb 13, 1998, 10:00 a.m.: 21 IR 2407; errata filed Mar 5, 1998, 1:45 p.m.: 21 IR 2392; readopted filed Oct 30, 2001, 11:50 a.m.: 25 IR 899; emergency rule filed Mar 20, 2007, 1:43 p.m.: 20070404-IR-071070198ERA, eff Mar 16, 2007 [IC 4-22-2-37.1 establishes the effectiveness of an emergency rule upon filing with the Publisher. LSA Document #07-198(E) was filed with the Publisher March 20, 2007.]; readopted filed Mar 23, 2007, 11:31 a.m.: 20070404-IR-071070030RFA; readopted filed Nov 26, 2013, 11:25 a.m.: 20131225-IR-071130345RFA)