A California court of appeal overturned a superior court's decision Oct. 5 when it ruled that Thoroughbred owner Charles Fipke doesn't need to pay a double jockey fee tied to his homebred, Forever Unbridled, winning the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) in 2017 at Del Mar.
California stewards ruled that because a decision to replace jockey Joel Rosario with John Velazquez wasn't announced until the day of the draw for the Distaff, Fipke would be subject to a California Horse Racing Board rule that requires owners to pay two jockey fees in such situations. The stewards said then that Rosario had an agreement in place to ride Forever Unbridled and was not allowed enough time to find an alternate mount.
With his Unbridled's Song mare winning the race, under the stewards' ruling, Fipke would be subject to paying $100,000 each to Velazquez and Rosario.
In a previous ruling, Judge James C. Chalfant of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County agreed with the CHRB decision to call for the dual jockey fee to be paid, but the Court of Appeal for the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, overturned that decision Monday.
In Monday's court of appeal decision, Presiding Justice Tricia Bigelow reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case back to superior court with instructions to issue a writ of mandate vacating the stewards' decision to award a double jockey fee.
The appeals court noted that Fipke raised a new legal argument for the first time on appeal: contending that CHRB rules for double jockey fees do not apply if a rider is removed prior to the draw. The court agreed with that argument.
The court said in reviewing the administrative law that outlines such situations, it found that while the rules allow for some discretion, "it imposes one implicit condition on the exercise of that discretion: the removal must occur after scratch time.
"Had the Legislature not intended to impose such a condition, it could have provided a single direction to the CHRB to establish the circumstances under which a jockey is entitled to receive a riding fee and/or mount fee when removed from a mount."
In a release, attorney Darrell Vienna called the decision a precedent-setting victory for horse owners' rights. Vienna and Carlo Fisco represented Fipke in the appeal.
"The law appeared to be clearly and straightforwardly in Mr. Fipke's favor," Fisco said in the release. "Therefore Mr. Fipke must be commended for staying the course in seeking a fair and just decision. Owners now have a level of protection going forward and the industry also stands to gain from the clarification supplied by the appellate court."
The CHRB did not wish to immediately comment on the decision but a spokesperson did say it didn't plan to appeal the ruling.
"This decision, which defines and clarifies the rights of horse owners, has been a long time coming," Vienna said. "Thanks to the patience and fortitude of Mr. Fipke in pursuing this matter, the rights of horse owners have been further defined and clarified."
Fipke said the case centered on an important principle.
"I pursued this case because I believe that horse owners have the right to make decisions regarding their horses," Fipke said, "and ensure that I, and other horse owners, are neither denied that right nor subjected to arbitrary and unfair sanctions for exercising that right."
