The Legal Base of Horse Racing Disputes
Horse racing is a sporting discipline, and its disputes are resolved within the general framework of the Law of Georgia on Sport. The central figure of this framework is the national sports federation: it is a non-commercial legal person of private law created under the Civil Code, which conducts its activity in accordance with the law, other normative acts, international sports federations and its own statutes, and is the sole governing body in the relevant sport, responsible for its development (Article 10).
The status of a federation is granted to an association whose constituent documents satisfy the requirements of Georgian legislation and of the relevant international federation; its competence extends over the whole territory of Georgia. It follows that disputes about the rules of competitions, qualification and results depend in the first instance on the federation's own regulations — the law places the federation as the governing organ of the sport, together with its internal rules for resolving disputes.
The Foundations of the Fight Against Doping
In horse racing disputes the doping angle is particularly sensitive — both as to the jockey and as to the treatment of the horse. In Georgia the prevention of and fight against doping is carried out on the basis of the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention, the corresponding UNESCO international convention, the World Anti-Doping Code and the international standards connected with it, the Georgian anti-doping rules and other acts (Article 22-3).
The fight against doping is coordinated by the inter-agency commission for the protection of the integrity of sport, while persons involved in doping control are obliged to prevent conflicts of interest with the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency and to respect its autonomy and independence. In a dispute this means that the procedural correctness of sample collection, laboratory analysis and the conclusion is a separate ground of challenge.