30 SEPTEMBER 2009 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 144

(2) Each horse shall, as far as is practicable, be started from the starting stalls corresponding to such stall position determined by NZTR in accordance with Rule 627.

(3) Subject to sub-Rule (4), a Stipendiary Steward in consultation with the Starter may refuse to allow to start in the Race a horse which:

(a) refuses to enter its starting stall or is excessively unruly or fractious; or

(b) is considered by the Stipendiary Steward to be causing undue delay or to be injured or otherwise disabled,

in which case such horse shall be declared by such Stipendiary Steward to have been scratched from the Race.

(4) If the Race is a Jumping Race then, a Stipendiary Steward in consultation with the Starter may in any case of emergency or with the prior permission of the Judicial Committee start a Race without using the approved starting stalls in which case the horses shall be drawn up in their proper order of stall positions and as nearly as possible in a straight line and the Race shall commence from a standing start, if possible, although this is not obligatory. If in so doing the Race is run over a shorter distance it shall not be void. An objection or protest shall not be taken or made, and an information shall not be filed or received, under these Rules on the ground that the horses were not started in accordance this Rule.

(5) The Starter’s decision as to whether or not a proper start has been effected and to any other matter in connection with the start shall be final and shall not be subject to appeal, including where the Starter has by his actions declared a Race to be a false start.

(6) Except as provided in Rules 628(1) and 631(4), where:

(a) the horses are started in front of the starting post;

(b) the Race is run over the wrong distance, on a wrong course or before the appointed time; or

(c) any horse or horses is prevented by mechanical failure of the starting stalls from participating in the Race,

the Judicial Committee shall have an absolute discretion to determine whether the Race shall be deemed to have been run or to be void, provided, however, that in exercising such discretion the Judicial Committee shall have regard to:

(d) the degree of variation from the advertised length of the Race; and

(e) the interests of the public who have invested on that Race.

In any case where the Race has been declared void the horses may be started again as soon as practicable. The decision of the Judicial Committee on any such matter shall be final and shall not be subject to appeal.

(7) In the case of a horse which has behaved in an unruly or fractious manner prior to the start of or during a Race the Stipendiary Stewards may ban such horse from being entered for or started in a Race until the horse or its Trainer has complied with such conditions as the Stipendiary Stewards specify.

632 If, in the opinion of the Judicial Committee, a horse which does not finish in the first three placings was prevented from taking an effective part in a Race owing to the mechanical failure of starting stalls, or is denied a fair start and such occurrence materially prejudiced the chances of that horse (but not where the horse is slow away by its own accord), the Judicial Committee may declare such horse to be a non-starter.

AGE RESTRICTIONS FOR RUNNING IN RACES

633 A horse shall not be run:

(a) in a Race when the horse is less than two years old;

(b) in a Hurdle Race run before the first day of February in the Racing Year in which it becomes three years old; and

(c) in a Steeplechase Race until it is four years old.