Methven TC 11 December 2011 – R 10 (request for ruling)
ID: JCA11214
Meet Title:
Methven TC - 11 December 2011
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2011/12/11
Race Number:
R10
Decision:
The Committee ruled that the horse OUR KOSTA, wrongly omitted from the on-course racebook, be permitted to start as Horse No.10 in Race 10, Placemakers Ashburton & CRT Pace. The Committee directed that the situation be clearly brought to the attention of on-course patrons who, the Committee was satisfied, were the only persons likely to be affected by the ruling.
Facts:
Information No. A5478 was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S W Wallis, requesting a ruling as to whether the horse OUR KOSTA, an acceptor for Race 10, which had been omitted from the racebook, be allowed to start in Race 10.
Rule 822 provides as follows:
(3) Notwithstanding that a horse may have been duly entered and accepted for a race in accordance with these Rules, such horse shall not be eligible to start in such race if:-
(a) its name does not appear in the Official Race Card.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Wallis produced the on-course race book and referred the Committee to the field, as printed, for Race 10, Placemakers Ashburton & CRT Pace. He pointed out that the horse, OUR KOSTA, trained by Mr K D Howard at Waimate, which had been shown in all other publications to his knowledge as Horse No. 10 in the race, had been omitted. There had clearly been an error, he submitted, in that the horse ARDEN TORRES, No. 11, was shown twice.
Mr Wallis submitted that a printing error had been made in publication of the meeting’s on-course race book and, he said, this had been confirmed to him by the Raceday Secretary, Fiona Tonks. Mr Wallis produced the “booklet” generated from the TAB website which correctly showed OUR KOSTA as Horse No. 10 in Race 10.
Mr Wallis submitted that the Committee had to determine whether, in terms of the Rule, the on-course racebook was the “Official Race Card”. His submission was that it was not.
Mr Wallis informed the Committee that the Stewards had spoken by telephone to the trainer, Mr Howard, who was keen for OUR KOSTA to take its place in Race 10.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee noted that the Rules of Harness Racing contained no definition of “Official Race Card”. Historically, the on-course racebook was the official race card for a race meeting. The Committee is not satisfied that this is still the case, with the multiple sources of fields and information that are now available. The Committee preferred the view that the on-course book is just that – a book available to and for the benefit of on-course patrons with the necessary race fields and other information. It is clear that industry participants rely upon other sources such as the Harness Racing New Zealand and TAB websites rather than the on-course racebook which, after all, is not usually available until one arrives on the course.
There remains some doubt as to what exactly is the “Official Race Card” (and this is a matter which possibly needs to be addressed by the authorities) but, whatever the case, the Committee was not prepared to find, in all of the circumstances, that the on- course racebook for this meeting was the “Official Race Card”. The Committee understood that OUR KOSTA had correctly been shown as Horse No. 10 for Race 10 in all other publications, including the “Turf Digest/Best Bets” and the relevant websites – Harness Racing New Zealand and the TAB. Therefore, the correct information was available to all off-course bettors.
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: 1168a1ec01c7e1d50e03fc2b56a3bff0
informantnumber:
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 04/12/2011
hearing_title: Methven TC 11 December 2011 - R 10 (request for ruling)
charge:
facts:
Information No. A5478 was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S W Wallis, requesting a ruling as to whether the horse OUR KOSTA, an acceptor for Race 10, which had been omitted from the racebook, be allowed to start in Race 10.
Rule 822 provides as follows:
(3) Notwithstanding that a horse may have been duly entered and accepted for a race in accordance with these Rules, such horse shall not be eligible to start in such race if:-
(a) its name does not appear in the Official Race Card.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Wallis produced the on-course race book and referred the Committee to the field, as printed, for Race 10, Placemakers Ashburton & CRT Pace. He pointed out that the horse, OUR KOSTA, trained by Mr K D Howard at Waimate, which had been shown in all other publications to his knowledge as Horse No. 10 in the race, had been omitted. There had clearly been an error, he submitted, in that the horse ARDEN TORRES, No. 11, was shown twice.
Mr Wallis submitted that a printing error had been made in publication of the meeting’s on-course race book and, he said, this had been confirmed to him by the Raceday Secretary, Fiona Tonks. Mr Wallis produced the “booklet” generated from the TAB website which correctly showed OUR KOSTA as Horse No. 10 in Race 10.
Mr Wallis submitted that the Committee had to determine whether, in terms of the Rule, the on-course racebook was the “Official Race Card”. His submission was that it was not.
Mr Wallis informed the Committee that the Stewards had spoken by telephone to the trainer, Mr Howard, who was keen for OUR KOSTA to take its place in Race 10.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee noted that the Rules of Harness Racing contained no definition of “Official Race Card”. Historically, the on-course racebook was the official race card for a race meeting. The Committee is not satisfied that this is still the case, with the multiple sources of fields and information that are now available. The Committee preferred the view that the on-course book is just that – a book available to and for the benefit of on-course patrons with the necessary race fields and other information. It is clear that industry participants rely upon other sources such as the Harness Racing New Zealand and TAB websites rather than the on-course racebook which, after all, is not usually available until one arrives on the course.
There remains some doubt as to what exactly is the “Official Race Card” (and this is a matter which possibly needs to be addressed by the authorities) but, whatever the case, the Committee was not prepared to find, in all of the circumstances, that the on- course racebook for this meeting was the “Official Race Card”. The Committee understood that OUR KOSTA had correctly been shown as Horse No. 10 for Race 10 in all other publications, including the “Turf Digest/Best Bets” and the relevant websites – Harness Racing New Zealand and the TAB. Therefore, the correct information was available to all off-course bettors.
Decision:
The Committee ruled that the horse OUR KOSTA, wrongly omitted from the on-course racebook, be permitted to start as Horse No.10 in Race 10, Placemakers Ashburton & CRT Pace. The Committee directed that the situation be clearly brought to the attention of on-course patrons who, the Committee was satisfied, were the only persons likely to be affected by the ruling.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Request Ruling
Rules: 822(3)
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward: Mr S W Wallis - Stipendiary Steward
raceid: fe04c2dc3fca6fb2feb3ad377b3dd80e
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R10
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 2006b5113355ab9fe9bb15d429aa175d
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 11/12/2011
meet_title: Methven TC - 11 December 2011
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: methven-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: Methven TC