Two emails came into my Inbox on Friday. One was an indication of what is and the other of what could be
.
Email one. On Friday, nine rulings were issued by the Ontario Racing Commission. These rulings came from a set of hearings that took place during a four-week span - between Thursday, August 25 and Thursday, September 22 at the ORC's Toronto office and were distributed to the industry in PDF format.
Email two. Another ruling was handed down on Thursday in Toronto, but this one was not by the ORC. It came courtesy the National Hockey League and its new Vice President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations, Brendan Shanahan.
The NHL website had this video ruling posted on Thursday morning for something that happened the night before. The video illustrates the infraction, explains the rule violation and determines a penalty all within 24 hours of the incident.
Hats off to the NHL for presentation and rule enforcement. Hopefully the commissions in harness racing can follow with something similar.