The case of ND Bunny Jet and her son has gone on more than a year. It may soon be resolved.

ND Bunny Jet is a race horse in a dispute involving the North Dakota Racing Commission. The commission has been ordered to pay more than $18,000 in legal fees to Randy Schwartz of Dickinson and Melissa Peach of Belcourt, in the dispute over the horse's credentials.

Judge Robert Wefald signed an order Sept. 4 that ordered the commission to pay the legal fees.

Commission Chairman Pat Weir of Medora believes the check will be sent soon, and he vows the group will never again put North Dakota horse breeders or owners through such an ordeal.

"The Peaches and Randy Schwartz have been treated pretty terribly throughout this," said Beth Baumstark, the attorney for Peach and Schwartz.

The dispute was over whether ND Bunny Jet, owned by Schwartz, was properly registered as North Dakota horse. Bunny Jet was registered as a foal, and Schwartz registered her offspring as North Dakota-bred.

Race horses bred in North Dakota that win, place or show at Belcourt and Fargo tracks collect points and, eventually, money from the Racing Commission's breeders' fund. Some races are restricted to North Dakota-bred horses.

Peach bought Bunny Jet's son, Major Splash Bac Jet, from Schwartz and raced him as North Dakota-bred in 2005 and 2006, winning some contests and collecting the commission breeders' points and cash awards.

"All of a sudden, in May 2007, they decided they were going to disqualify him," Baumstark said. The issue turned up on the Racing Commission's agenda before Schwartz and Peach knew the horse's status was to be reviewed, she said.

The commission voted to decertify the horse, saying that while ND Bunny Jet may have been registered as a foal in North Dakota, she was never reregistered as a brood mare before she gave birth to Major Splash Bac Jet.

Peach and Schwartz learned of the action when they tried to enter the horse in races at Belcourt's Chippewa Downs in June 2007, Baumstark said. A week later, the commission sent them an official notice that horse did not qualify as North Dakota-bred, she said.

Peach and Schwartz appealed and an administrative law judge, Allen Hoberg, ruled in favor of them, saying the mare should not have to be registered twice. The commission refused to go along, so Peach and Schwartz took the case to court.

After Weir, a former Fargo attorney, became chairman of the Racing Commission in July, he set out to mend fences with horsemen and legislators. At his behest, the commissioners in July asked the district court to send the Peach-Schwartz case back to them so they could reverse themselves and accept Hoberg's recommendation.

Baumstark, Peach and Schwartz told Wefald the commission should pay the costs of the legal battle, and he agreed.

Weir said the commission now is acting in good faith to get the fees paid and the case concluded. He said he will push for a rule that says "once a North Dakota resident registers a horse, it's going to be a one-time thing."