Whoever, for the purpose of competing for purses or premiums, knowingly and designedly enters or drives any horse that shall have been painted or disguised, or that represents any other or different horse from the one which is purported to be entered, or shall knowingly and designedly, for the purpose of competing for premiums or purses enter or drive a horse in a class to which it does not properly belong shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment for not more than 6 months, and such horse, after such notice to the owner as the court may order and a hearing thereon, may be forfeited in the discretion of the court and sold; 1/2 of the net proceeds of such sale shall go to the informant and the other 1/2 to the county in which the offense is committed. The pecuniary penalty shall be enforced by indictment and the forfeiture by a libel filed by the informant and proceedings in the manner provided in Title 33, chapter 21.