Archive Decision

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Counties RC 25 November 2017 – R 9 – Chair, Mr B J Scott

ID: JCA11456

Applicant:
Mr M Williamson - Senior Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Ms M Vance - Class A Jockey

Other Person:
Mr A Coles - Stipendiary Steward

Information Number:
A9494

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Excessive use of the Whip

Rules:
638(3)(B)(ii)

Plea:
admitted

Code:
Thoroughbred

Meet Title:
Counties RC - 25 November 2017

Meet Chair:
BScott

Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley

Race Date:
2017/11/25

Race Number:
R9

Decision:

The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is upheld.

Penalty:

The Committee accordingly imposes a fine of $300.00 on Ms Vance.

Facts:

Following the running of the FRANKLIN LONG ROOFING 1400 an Information was lodged by Senior Stipendiary Steward Mr M Williamson against Class A Jockey Ms M Vance alleging that Ms Vance used her whip excessively when riding HOWBOWDAT prior to the 100 metres.

Ms Vance was present at the Hearing and she acknowledged that she understood the Rule and that she admitted the breach. Ms Vance also acknowledged that she was aware of the new Whip Guidelines.

The Guidelines with Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip that apply from the 1st of August 2017 provide: Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b) Riders may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:

Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jumpout a horse may be struck with the whip up to 5 times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of 5 strides before striking the horse again with the drawn whip, with this restriction to apply prior to the final 100 metres. The whip may then be used at the rider's discretion until the winning post is reached. Prior to the final 600 metres of a race, official trial or jump out the use of the drawn whip is acceptable if used in moderation and not continually.

Stipendiary Steward Mr A Coles demonstrated the incident by use of the race films. He identified Ms Vance's mount and showed where prior to the 100 metres mark she struck her horse 12 times with virtually no respite for the required 5 strides.

Ms Vance acknowledged the number of strikes and said some were backhand and that she hit her horse every second stride.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Williamson said that Ms Vance had an excellent record under this rule with no prior breaches. He did point out that Ms Vance's horse finished second. He submitted that a fine of $300.00 was appropriate.

Ms Vance said that not only had she not breached this Rule in 7 years of riding she had not even had a warning. She pointed out that she had previously ridden in Queensland and Adelaide as well as in NZ. She sought a reduced fine.

Reasons for Penalty:

The Committee considered all of the submissions from the parties and also considered the film evidence. The aggravating factors were the 12 strikes with the whip and also very little respite. These aggravating factors were pointed out to Ms Vance. The Committee pointed out to Ms Vance that the 12 strikes could have resulted in an uplift in the penalty.

The Committee also pointed out to Ms Vance that a Senior Jockey who had not breached the Rule or had a warning in 6 years was fined $300.00 as were Jockeys who had used the whip 7 or 8 times without the proper respite.

The Committee takes into account Ms Vance's very good record and that is a mitigating factor.

The new policy on Whip penalties set in conjunction with the RIU provides firstly that for a first offence the starting point penalty is a fine of $300.00 and secondly that mitigating matters unless exceptional are not to be taken into account. In other words the prescribed fine is the minimum to be imposed by Judicial Committees. The policy further provides that admission of the breach and a good record are not exceptional circumstances and we therefore do not give any credit for these.

The Committee believes that notwithstanding that there could have been an uplift due to the number of strikes a fine of $300.00 is appropriate in this case. The Committee also warned Ms Vance that a second offence under this rule would incur a starting point fine of $500.00 and for a third breach there would be an automatic suspension of Licence for 6 to 8 days.

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: 2040fff72e2bf7942c90a1d9b8bb1f3e


informantnumber: A9494


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Excessive use of the Whip


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 27/11/2017


hearing_title: Counties RC 25 November 2017 - R 9 - Chair, Mr B J Scott


charge:


facts:

Following the running of the FRANKLIN LONG ROOFING 1400 an Information was lodged by Senior Stipendiary Steward Mr M Williamson against Class A Jockey Ms M Vance alleging that Ms Vance used her whip excessively when riding HOWBOWDAT prior to the 100 metres.

Ms Vance was present at the Hearing and she acknowledged that she understood the Rule and that she admitted the breach. Ms Vance also acknowledged that she was aware of the new Whip Guidelines.

The Guidelines with Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip that apply from the 1st of August 2017 provide: Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b) Riders may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:

Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jumpout a horse may be struck with the whip up to 5 times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of 5 strides before striking the horse again with the drawn whip, with this restriction to apply prior to the final 100 metres. The whip may then be used at the rider's discretion until the winning post is reached. Prior to the final 600 metres of a race, official trial or jump out the use of the drawn whip is acceptable if used in moderation and not continually.

Stipendiary Steward Mr A Coles demonstrated the incident by use of the race films. He identified Ms Vance's mount and showed where prior to the 100 metres mark she struck her horse 12 times with virtually no respite for the required 5 strides.

Ms Vance acknowledged the number of strikes and said some were backhand and that she hit her horse every second stride.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is upheld.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Williamson said that Ms Vance had an excellent record under this rule with no prior breaches. He did point out that Ms Vance's horse finished second. He submitted that a fine of $300.00 was appropriate.

Ms Vance said that not only had she not breached this Rule in 7 years of riding she had not even had a warning. She pointed out that she had previously ridden in Queensland and Adelaide as well as in NZ. She sought a reduced fine.


reasonsforpenalty:

The Committee considered all of the submissions from the parties and also considered the film evidence. The aggravating factors were the 12 strikes with the whip and also very little respite. These aggravating factors were pointed out to Ms Vance. The Committee pointed out to Ms Vance that the 12 strikes could have resulted in an uplift in the penalty.

The Committee also pointed out to Ms Vance that a Senior Jockey who had not breached the Rule or had a warning in 6 years was fined $300.00 as were Jockeys who had used the whip 7 or 8 times without the proper respite.

The Committee takes into account Ms Vance's very good record and that is a mitigating factor.

The new policy on Whip penalties set in conjunction with the RIU provides firstly that for a first offence the starting point penalty is a fine of $300.00 and secondly that mitigating matters unless exceptional are not to be taken into account. In other words the prescribed fine is the minimum to be imposed by Judicial Committees. The policy further provides that admission of the breach and a good record are not exceptional circumstances and we therefore do not give any credit for these.

The Committee believes that notwithstanding that there could have been an uplift due to the number of strikes a fine of $300.00 is appropriate in this case. The Committee also warned Ms Vance that a second offence under this rule would incur a starting point fine of $500.00 and for a third breach there would be an automatic suspension of Licence for 6 to 8 days.


penalty:

The Committee accordingly imposes a fine of $300.00 on Ms Vance.


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: 638(3)(B)(ii)


Informant: Mr M Williamson - Senior Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: Ms M Vance - Class A Jockey


Otherperson: Mr A Coles - Stipendiary Steward


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: b32bf7b96173c33ad37b073a52094617


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R9


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: c5e85551fbaab828817fbab360a528cf


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 25/11/2017


meet_title: Counties RC - 25 November 2017


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: counties-rc


meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing


meet_chair: BScott


meet_pm1: ADooley


meet_pm2: none


name: Counties RC