Videos, in the words of an administrative law judge, showed a “series of races involving — as a rule — tired, reluctant, skittish or disinterested horses moving at a slow pace down the dust-choked path.”

But a state appeals court said state regulators were wrong to try to punish a tiny North Florida pari-mutuel facility that in 2014 turned to slow-motion, two-horse races as it tried to meet the requirements of its state license.

A three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeal, in a 12-page ruling Tuesday, said the state Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering improperly found Hamilton Downs in violation of its license. The division last year rejected findings of an administrative law judge, who ruled in favor of the Hamilton County track but who described a bizarre scene in which the “races must be seen to be believed.”