Margulis v. Illinois Racing Board

Plaintiff, Harvey Margulis, owned the winning horse, C. C. Sun, in whose post-race urine sample an unauthorized “foreign substance,” the drug procaine, was discovered. For this reason, defendant Illinois Racing Board (Board) disqualified the horse, canceled and redistributed the winning purse. Plaintiff appealed to the circuit court, which reversed the Board’s decision. The circuit court held that the applicable State statute and Board rules had not been violated because the quantity of the drug procaine in the horse did not have a “therapeutic effect” on the horse during the race. This…