Marlborough HRC 21 June 2013 – R 2
ID: JCA10754
Meet Title:
Marlborough HRC - 21 June 2013
Meet Chair:
KHales
Meet Committee Member 1:
JPhelan
Race Date:
2013/06/21
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
As Mr Smith has admitted the charge it is therefore deemed to be proved.
Penalty:
Mr Smith is fined the sum of $250.
Charge:
It was alleged that the respondent drove with his foot out of the sulky footrests for a considerable period of time throughout the concluding stages of the race.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 2, the "Grove Road Super Liquor Maiden Pace", Mr Gavin Smith, the driver of "Burning Desire" was charged with a breach of Rule 867, for dropping a foot out of a footrest on his sulky. The incident occurred in the home straight in run for the finishing line.
The incident was demonstrated by reference to the video coverage of the race, which showed how Mr Smith had dropped his foot out of the rest, and left it down, for a distance estimated by the Stipendiary Stewards of between 90 and 100 metres before returning his foot to the rest as required.
Mr Smith freely admitted the charge. He said that he had not got entirely used to the American style of sulky. He had also, quite recently, lost a quantity of skin off one of his hands and had used his foot instead of his hand to pull the removable deafeners and then forgot to return his foot to the rest. He acknowledged that he had applied the whip when his foot was down, but that it was not a heavy blow, and that he did not drop his foot out of the rest so that he could whip his horse with more vigour.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Wallis told the hearing that Mr Smith had appeared before Judicial Committees on three previous occasions in the present racing season and had been fined $100 on one occasion and $150 on the other two occasions. Mr Wallis submitted that a fine of $250 should be imposed in this instance.
In response Mr Smith acknowledged that his record was not good but he thought that $250 was a "bit steep".
Reasons for Penalty:
In this instance we have adopted as our starting point a fine of $300. On top of that, we consider that as this is the fourth occasion on which Mr Smith has appeared on a charge of this nature in the current racing season that an uplift of $50 on our starting point is warranted.
Against that, we note that Mr Smith has admitted the charge at the earliest opportunity, and was helpful in the hearing. We accept that he did not drop his foot out of the rest to achieve more leverage when applying the whip, and that he did have some degree of discomfort in his hand. Thus we adopt those matters as mitigating features and afford Mr Smith a discount of $100 on the fine of $350, which was reached after considering the aggravating features.
JCA Decision Fields (raw)
Dmitry: This section contains all JCA fields migrated from the raw data.
Data from these fields should be mapped appropriately to display amongst the standard fields above; please make note of any values below that are missing in the above standard fields but should be there.
hearingid: 0b114a1fea910e968af300009956bd2c
informantnumber: A1880
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 24/06/2013
hearing_title: Marlborough HRC 21 June 2013 - R 2
charge:
It was alleged that the respondent drove with his foot out of the sulky footrests for a considerable period of time throughout the concluding stages of the race.
facts:
Following the running of Race 2, the "Grove Road Super Liquor Maiden Pace", Mr Gavin Smith, the driver of "Burning Desire" was charged with a breach of Rule 867, for dropping a foot out of a footrest on his sulky. The incident occurred in the home straight in run for the finishing line.
The incident was demonstrated by reference to the video coverage of the race, which showed how Mr Smith had dropped his foot out of the rest, and left it down, for a distance estimated by the Stipendiary Stewards of between 90 and 100 metres before returning his foot to the rest as required.
Mr Smith freely admitted the charge. He said that he had not got entirely used to the American style of sulky. He had also, quite recently, lost a quantity of skin off one of his hands and had used his foot instead of his hand to pull the removable deafeners and then forgot to return his foot to the rest. He acknowledged that he had applied the whip when his foot was down, but that it was not a heavy blow, and that he did not drop his foot out of the rest so that he could whip his horse with more vigour.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Smith has admitted the charge it is therefore deemed to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Wallis told the hearing that Mr Smith had appeared before Judicial Committees on three previous occasions in the present racing season and had been fined $100 on one occasion and $150 on the other two occasions. Mr Wallis submitted that a fine of $250 should be imposed in this instance.
In response Mr Smith acknowledged that his record was not good but he thought that $250 was a "bit steep".
reasonsforpenalty:
In this instance we have adopted as our starting point a fine of $300. On top of that, we consider that as this is the fourth occasion on which Mr Smith has appeared on a charge of this nature in the current racing season that an uplift of $50 on our starting point is warranted.
Against that, we note that Mr Smith has admitted the charge at the earliest opportunity, and was helpful in the hearing. We accept that he did not drop his foot out of the rest to achieve more leverage when applying the whip, and that he did have some degree of discomfort in his hand. Thus we adopt those matters as mitigating features and afford Mr Smith a discount of $100 on the fine of $350, which was reached after considering the aggravating features.
penalty:
Mr Smith is fined the sum of $250.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 867, Every horseman shall drive throughout the race with both feet in the rests of the sulky provided for that purpose
Informant: S Wallis - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Gavin Smith - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 5a1d230109a538f982bb2ce44f0c4265
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 4d1c671e3b4c86997406553f51f24419
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 21/06/2013
meet_title: Marlborough HRC - 21 June 2013
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: marlborough-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: KHales
meet_pm1: JPhelan
meet_pm2: none
name: Marlborough HRC