For some time now the Board has been concerned with the irregular practice whereby some persons hold the Document of Description (sometimes called the horse passport, or registration papers) when they are not in possession of the horse.

The Document of Description is created by racing authorities as a means of identification of the horse, and as such it is the intention that the Document remain with the horse at all times. The Document is not intended for use as a form of leverage in commercial disputes other avenues are available for that purpose.

If a person exercises a lien over a horse, and retains that horse, it follows that the person holds the Document. However, once the horse is moved on, the Document must remain with it.

To ensure that the requirement for the Document to remain with the horse is met, the TRB is establishing a Local Rule as follows:

"The stewards may at any time order the surrender by any person of a horse's Document of Description. Any person failing or refusing to comply with such order may be punished and the Stewards may further direct the Registrar of Racehorses to issue a duplicate Document of Description for such horse."

The document must remain with the horse at all times until surrendered to racing authorities. This policy will be enforced thru the Local Rule and the issue of duplicates where necessary to overcome inappropriate retention of documents.