General provisions types of races permitted, declarations, and drawing of post positions

1. The racing secretary, exclusively, shall schedule the following types of races: a. Overnight events, including: (1) Conditioned races. (2) Claiming races. (3) Preferred, invitational, handicap, open, or free-for-all races. (4) Schooling races. (5) Matinee races. b. Stakes. c. Match races. 2. Substitute races may be provided for each race program and must be so designated in condition sheets and may be used when a regularly scheduled race is not run because of lack of entries. 3. Regularly scheduled races or substitute races may, if necessary, be divided. 4. When a race is divided, starting horses must, unless otherwise specified in the conditions of the race, be determined by lot after preference has been applied. 5. Conditions may not be written in such a way that a horse is deprived of an opportunity to race in a normal preference cycle. 6. Not more than three also eligible conditions may be used in writing conditions for overnight events. 7. For the purpose of eligibility, a racing season or racing year must be the calendar year. 8. When recording winnings, gross dollar winnings must be used and cents must be disregarded. 9. No time records or bars may be used as an element of eligibility. 10. Horses eligible at the time of declaration shall remain eligible for that race regardless of winnings accrued after such declaration. 11. To participate in mixed races, trotting, and pacing, a horse must be eligible under the conditions for the gait stated for it in its declaration. 12. The word "start" in a condition includes only those performances in a purse race and each dash or heat must be considered as a separate "start" for the purpose of condition races. 13. Preferred, invitation, junior invitation, handicap, open, and free-for-all races are those limited to the fastest horses competing at the meeting and with respect to those races: a. Horses must be posted in the office of the race secretary and listed with the board of judges, prior to closing declarations; b. Horses so posted are not eligible to conditioned races unless the conditions specifically include horses posted to any or all such races; c. A horse must be removed from the lists not later than the day following the start that caused it to be removed; and d. No two-year-old horse is eligible to be placed on the lists to race against older horses until it has won seven races, unless requested by the owner or authorized agent, but the owner or authorized agent may withdraw a request after the owner or agent has made it. 14. The maximum size of fields for all races must be determined by allowing eight feet [2.44 meters] per horse to the starters in the front tier and not more than two trailers. 15. No horse may be permitted to be declared to race unless: a. A valid eligibility certificate has been granted or validated for that horse by the United States trotting association. b. The registration papers and a valid eligibility certificate have been filed with the association. c. If leased: (1) A copy of the least acceptable is on file with the board of judges and the associations; and (2) The horse races in the name of the lessee. d. The horse has qualified. e. The horse has been lip tattooed. f. The horse is at least two years of age to race at any meeting but not older than: (1) Fourteen years of age to race at extended meetings; or (2) Seventeen years of age to race at nonextended, matinee, or fair meetings. g. A negative "coggins test" certificate issued by a laboratory approved by the United States department of agriculture or the North Dakota board of veterinary medicine has been presented to the race secretary properly identifying the horse and certifying that within the current racing season in North Dakota the horse has been tested negative. h. If it is a spayed mare, that fact is noted on the program, registration certificate, eligibility certificate, and the list of such horses on the horsemen's bulletin board, and if part of an entry, that fact has been disclosed on the declaration. 16. An association shall publish the time for closing of declaration on the condition sheets. 17. A declaration received after the specified time of closing may not be accepted, except if it was omitted in error or because of negligence by an official or employee of the association. 18. An association shall provide a box into which declarations must be deposited. 19. The same horse may not be declared to compete in races scheduled for the same day at different tracks. 20. A horse that is on the qualifying list, starter's schooling list, judges' list, or veterinarian's list and not removed from the appropriate list may not be declared. 21. A declaration made by mail, telegraph, or telephone is acceptable, if: a. The mail, telegraphic, or telephone declaration states the name of the horse, the event it is to be declared to, and is signed by the person who received and deposited it; and b. Evidence of the declaration is deposited, in the declaration box before the time specified by the race secretary or the race secretary's licensed delegate for declarations to close, and adequate program information is furnished by the declarer. 22. In the case of telephone declaration, a properly signed declaration must also be deposited with the race secretary at least twenty-four hours prior to post time of the race concerned. 23. Before opening the declaration box for the draw, the race secretary or the race secretary's licensed delegate shall take control of the declaration box and the race secretary or delegate may open the box prior to the time of closing to provide an opportunity to process declarations but no information as to the names of horses declared may be given by any person to any other person prior to the drawing of declarations. 24. No owner of a horse or the owner's agent may be denied the privilege of being present at the closing and drawing of declarations. 25. Declarations must be listed, the eligibility verified, preference ascertained, starters selected, and post position drawn at such times as are determined by the association. 26. If it is necessary to reopen any race, a public announcement must be made at least twice and the declaration box reopened at a specified time. 27. Starting horses and also eligible horses for overnight events must be drawn by lot from horses properly declared to start, and preference must be given according to a horse's last previous start at the gait declared for it in a purse race. 28. Preference dates are not applicable to horses racing in schooling races. 29. Preference must be governed by the following: a. If more than the required number of horses are declared in to a race with same preference date, the previous preference dates apply. b. When a horse is racing for the first time at the gait declared for it, it shall have preference over other horses regardless of their preference dates. c. If a declaration is made for a horse that has already been drawn to start in a race that has not yet been contested, the date of that uncontested race must be its preference date. d. If a horse has been scratched, the date of the race from which it was scratched must be its preference date. e. If a race has been reopened for additional declarations, preference must be given those horses eligible and declared at the time declarations closed originally. f. If conditions so specify, preference can be given to two-year-olds, regardless of preference date. 30. Not more than two horses may be drawn as "also eligibles" in accordance with the following provisions: a. Also eligibles must be drawn from horses having the best preference. b. No horse may be added to the race as an also eligible unless it was drawn as an also eligible at the time declarations closed for that race. c. No horse may be barred from another race to which it is eligible and has preference because it has been drawn as an also eligible. d. Also eligibles moved into races must be posted in the office of the race secretary and their owners or trainers must immediately be so notified by the race secretary. e. Also eligibles not moved into a race by 10:00 a.m. of the day of the race must be released. f. If an also eligible is moved into a race it must be scratched from any subsequent race for which it has been drawn, unless preference otherwise allows. 31. Horses must be coupled as an entry, if: a. One person is the owner of two or more horses in a race; b. The spouse of a person who is the owner of one horse in a race is the owner of another horse in that race; c. The spouse of the driver of one of the horses in a race is the owner or trainer of another horse in that race; or d. The trainer of one of the horses in a race is the owner, trainer, or driver of another horse in that race. 32. Any horse may be coupled as an entry by the board of judges when the board considers it in the public interest to do so. 33. If a race is split into divisions or elimination heats, horses coupled as an entry must be seeded in separate divisions or elimination heats insofar as possible: a. By owners; b. By trainers; and c. By stables, but the divisions or elimination heats in which they are to compete and their post positions shall be determined by lot. 34. When there is conclusive evidence that a horse was properly declared to an overnight event, but omitted from a program due to error or negligence by an official or employee of the association, the horse so omitted may be added to the race and given the last post position, if the error is found prior to the printing of the official program and its addition does not result in more than the maximum number of starters allowed in a single field, but if the program has been printed, the horse may not be permitted to start. 35. If a horse omitted as described in subsection 34 was nominated or declared to a stake, it must be added to the race and given the last post position, and in that case, if its addition results in more than the maximum number of starters allowed in a single field the event must be divided and the starters in each division and their post positions must be redrawn by lot. 36. If one or more horses are excused from a race by the judges, the also eligible replacement horse or horses shall race and take the post position drawn for the replaced horse or horses except in a handicap race in which case the also eligible replacement horse or horses shall take the place of the replaced horse or horses so long as the handicap is the same, but if the handicap is different: a. The also eligible replacement horse or horses shall take the position on the outside of horses with a similar handicap; or b. When a trailing horse is scratched, the also eligible horse shall take the trailing position, regardless of the handicap scratched. 37. A horse properly declared may not be withdrawn or scratched from the race without permission of the judges. 38. After having been drawn to start, or as an also eligible horse in a race, the horse may not be sold prior to the particular race and trainers may only be changed with the permission of the judges. 39. Drivers must be named not later than the time to permit their names to be published in the official track race program. 40. The deadline for naming of drivers must be set by the association, and no driver may be changed after that deadline without the permission of the judges. 41. The race secretary, with the approval of the board of judges, may reject the declaration to an overnight event of any horse that has a past performance that indicates that it would be below the competitive level of other horses declared to the particular event.