Gore HRC 13 October 2018 – R 2 – Chair, Prof G Hall
ID: JCA11370
Meet Title:
Gore HRC - 13 October 2018
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
MConway
Race Date:
2018/10/13
Race Number:
R 2
Decision:
Mr Ferguson has admitted the breach. We thus find the breach proved.
Penalty:
Mr Ferguson is suspended from the end of racing on 13 October 2018 up to and including 28 October 2018. This is 3 Otago/Southland meetings and permits him to drive at Timaru on 3 November.
Facts:
An information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr Munro against Mr Ferguson, the driver of HANS IDEAL in race 2, THE TAPANUI FOUR SQUARE/ DWAINS SERVICE CENTRE MOBILE PACE alleging that he used his whip on more occasions than permitted by clause (b) of the Use of Whip Regulations.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
The Use of the Whip Regulations provide:
(b) No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of “backhanders” and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Using the race videos, Mr Munro identified HANS IDEAL in the one by one as the field ran past the 400 metre mark. Mr Munro counted 11 whip strikes by Mr Ferguson in the final 400 metres. These were all in the home straight. He said these were not in a row but were broken up. At the request of the Committee, he froze the side-on video which demonstrated the final strike was some 30 or 40 metres from the line.
Mr Ferguson accepted the count was correct. He pointed out the last half of the race was comparatively slow and all the way up the straight HANS IDEAL, which was a 31-start maiden, was responding to his urgings. In this regard, we note the horse finished second, beaten a half neck. He said he was making every effort to get it up to win.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Munro put Mr Ferguson’s record before this Committee. Mr Ferguson has had 2022 lifetime drives: 29 drives this season and 278 drives last season. He breached the rule on 9 June 2018 when he was found to have used the whip 11 times inside the final 400 metres. The penalty on that occasion was a $200 fine. He was suspended for 3 days on 26 August. The count then was 12.
As this was the respondent’s third breach of the rule within a six month period (and only four months on this occasion), Mr Munro submitted a 4-day suspension was appropriate. He described the respondent as a busy Southland driver.
Mr Ferguson stated that a 4-day suspension would be costly for him. He estimated it would equate to about $1,600 in lost earnings. He questioned the Riverton meeting being the fourth day of the suspension proposed by the RIU, as there was a meeting at Timaru on 3 November. He said he had driven at Timaru in May/ June. We could not find any evidence of this but observe a horse from his team was driven by Ms Purvis at a May meeting and assume this is the occasion to which he was referring.
Reasons for Penalty:
Mr Ferguson used his whip 11 times inside the final 400 metres. They were freehand strikes in the home straight. They were broken up and the respondent was using other methods to encourage his horse. This is his third breach of the rule in just over 4 months and the number of drives since the latest breach is only 18.
We thus increase the starting point in the JCA Penalty Guide to 4 days.
However the breach is low-range, as have been all three breaches by Mr Ferguson. Thus his degree of culpability is at the lower end. There is not even a mid-range breach; he simply miscounts by one or two strikes. We reduce our starting point by a day for this factor.
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: 1dc9e7b7c93569b8579fb82d314a67ca
informantnumber: A09802
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of the whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 15/10/2018
hearing_title: Gore HRC 13 October 2018 - R 2 - Chair, Prof G Hall
charge:
facts:
An information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr Munro against Mr Ferguson, the driver of HANS IDEAL in race 2, THE TAPANUI FOUR SQUARE/ DWAINS SERVICE CENTRE MOBILE PACE alleging that he used his whip on more occasions than permitted by clause (b) of the Use of Whip Regulations.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
The Use of the Whip Regulations provide:
(b) No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of “backhanders” and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Using the race videos, Mr Munro identified HANS IDEAL in the one by one as the field ran past the 400 metre mark. Mr Munro counted 11 whip strikes by Mr Ferguson in the final 400 metres. These were all in the home straight. He said these were not in a row but were broken up. At the request of the Committee, he froze the side-on video which demonstrated the final strike was some 30 or 40 metres from the line.
Mr Ferguson accepted the count was correct. He pointed out the last half of the race was comparatively slow and all the way up the straight HANS IDEAL, which was a 31-start maiden, was responding to his urgings. In this regard, we note the horse finished second, beaten a half neck. He said he was making every effort to get it up to win.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Ferguson has admitted the breach. We thus find the breach proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Munro put Mr Ferguson’s record before this Committee. Mr Ferguson has had 2022 lifetime drives: 29 drives this season and 278 drives last season. He breached the rule on 9 June 2018 when he was found to have used the whip 11 times inside the final 400 metres. The penalty on that occasion was a $200 fine. He was suspended for 3 days on 26 August. The count then was 12.
As this was the respondent’s third breach of the rule within a six month period (and only four months on this occasion), Mr Munro submitted a 4-day suspension was appropriate. He described the respondent as a busy Southland driver.
Mr Ferguson stated that a 4-day suspension would be costly for him. He estimated it would equate to about $1,600 in lost earnings. He questioned the Riverton meeting being the fourth day of the suspension proposed by the RIU, as there was a meeting at Timaru on 3 November. He said he had driven at Timaru in May/ June. We could not find any evidence of this but observe a horse from his team was driven by Ms Purvis at a May meeting and assume this is the occasion to which he was referring.
reasonsforpenalty:
Mr Ferguson used his whip 11 times inside the final 400 metres. They were freehand strikes in the home straight. They were broken up and the respondent was using other methods to encourage his horse. This is his third breach of the rule in just over 4 months and the number of drives since the latest breach is only 18.
We thus increase the starting point in the JCA Penalty Guide to 4 days.
However the breach is low-range, as have been all three breaches by Mr Ferguson. Thus his degree of culpability is at the lower end. There is not even a mid-range breach; he simply miscounts by one or two strikes. We reduce our starting point by a day for this factor.
penalty:
Mr Ferguson is suspended from the end of racing on 13 October 2018 up to and including 28 October 2018. This is 3 Otago/Southland meetings and permits him to drive at Timaru on 3 November.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2) and Use of the Whip Regulations
Informant: Mr V Munro - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr C Ferguson - Licensed Open Driver
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 751f5a7f529254e580b2fe6e9ece0051
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 0ad6b069f9a195b2684c614361e599f0
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 13/10/2018
meet_title: Gore HRC - 13 October 2018
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: gore-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: MConway
meet_pm2: none
name: Gore HRC