HR Waikato 5 May 2016 – R 4 (instigating a protest) – Chair, Mr A Dooley
ID: JCA11516
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 5 May 2016
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
AGodsalve
Race Date:
2016/05/05
Race Number:
Race 4
Decision:
The protest was upheld and the amended placings were:
1st No. 5 KIMANI
2nd No. 7 WESTWIND FLYER
3rd No. 9 HEZABLUECHIPBOY
4th No. 12 MEDIA QUEEN
5th No. 10 VEGAS STAR
It was ordered that dividends and stakes be paid in accordance with the amended placings.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 4, Mitre 10 Mega Cambridge Mobile Pace, an Information was filed Instigating a Protest pursuant to Rule 869 A (2). The Informant, Mr Mulcay, alleged that MEDIA QUEEN placed 2nd by the Judge shifted inwards on the final turn and early in the run home causing interference to HEZABLUECHIPBOY (S Abernethy) placed 4th by the Judge.
The official margin between 2nd and 4th was 2 lengths.
The protest was contested.
Rule 869(4) provides: "No horse shall during any race do anything which interferes or is likely to interfere with any other horse or its progress.
Rule 869A (2) provides " When a placed horse or its driver causes interference to another placed horse and the Judicial Committee is satisfied that the horse interfered with would have finished ahead the horse that, or whose driver, caused the interference the Judicial Committee must, in addition to any other penalty that may be imposed, place the horse that, or whose driver, caused the interference immediately after the horse interfered with".
All parties present acknowledged they understood the Rule.
There was a delay to the start of the hearing due to the late arrival of Mr D & P Ferguson who represented the connections of MEDIA QUEEN.
Judge's placings were:
1st No. 5 KIMANI
2nd No. 12 MEDIA QUEEN
3rd No. 7 WESTWIND FLYER
4th No. 9 HEZABLUECHIPBOY
5th No. 10 VEGAS STAR
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Mulcay submitted that the Stewards' position was Mr Ferguson clearly tightened up Mr Abernethy when he allowed his horse to shift inwards on the final turn. He said this interference resulted in HEZABLUECHIPBOY losing ground which he estimated to be between 2 and ½ and 3 lengths. He said it was noticeable that HEZABLUECHIPBOY was making ground on MEDIA QUEEN when Mr Abernethy was able to drive his horse out over the final 100 metres. He submitted that the Stewards' view was MEDIA QUEEN should be relegated from 2nd place.
Mr S Abernethy submitted that when Mr Ferguson moved up on his outside rounding the final turn he continued to lay in on HEZABLUECHIPBOY. He emphasised that Mr Ferguson made no effort to ease off him which resulted in HEZABLUECHIPBOY having its momentum stopped. He stated that he couldn’t go for his horse until the 100 metre mark. He believed that had the interference not occurred HEZABLUECHIPBOY would have beaten MEDIA QUEEN.
Mr D Ferguson submitted that he had got an advantage over Mr Abernethy rounding the final turn when his horse was travelling better than HEZABLUECHIPBOY. He stated that he didn’t move inwards when he was going forward.
Mr P Ferguson asked whether or not Mr Abernethy was already in a 3 wide position prior to Mr D Ferguson moving up on his outside rounding the final turn. He stated that Mr Abernethy was placing pressure onto Mr Ferguson at that point. He specified that Mr Ferguson had keep a straight line early in the run home.
Mrs Teaz submitted that she agreed with Mr Abernethy's interpretation of the interference and had nothing further to add.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee carefully considered all of the submissions presented. After synchronising the available video films and studying them frame by frame we established that MEDIA QUEEN did shift in rounding the final turn. Mr Ferguson did not have a clear advantage over Mr Abernethy to move him inwards rounding the final turn which visibly impeded HEZABLUECHIPBOY'S progress.
It was important to note that the head – on film clearly showed that in the early stages of the run home Mr Ferguson allowed his horse to shift inwards into the rightful running line of HEZABLUECHIPBOY. In doing so this meant that Mr Abernethy was forced to take a hold and restrain his horse when he received interference from MEDIA QUEEN. We consider the interference cost HEZABLUECHIPBOY more than 2 lengths at a crucial stage in the race. It was relevant that over the final 100 metres HEZABLUECHIPBOY was taking ground of MEDIA QUEEN.
After taking into account all the above factors the Committee was of the opinion that HEZABLUECHIPBOY would have beaten MEDIA QUEEN had such interference not occurred.
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: 225f2441329f5350e6f4aedbc4d13dd3
informantnumber: A3998
horsename: MEDIA QUEEN
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 07/05/2016
hearing_title: HR Waikato 5 May 2016 - R 4 (instigating a protest) - Chair, Mr A Dooley
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 4, Mitre 10 Mega Cambridge Mobile Pace, an Information was filed Instigating a Protest pursuant to Rule 869 A (2). The Informant, Mr Mulcay, alleged that MEDIA QUEEN placed 2nd by the Judge shifted inwards on the final turn and early in the run home causing interference to HEZABLUECHIPBOY (S Abernethy) placed 4th by the Judge.
The official margin between 2nd and 4th was 2 lengths.
The protest was contested.
Rule 869(4) provides: "No horse shall during any race do anything which interferes or is likely to interfere with any other horse or its progress.
Rule 869A (2) provides " When a placed horse or its driver causes interference to another placed horse and the Judicial Committee is satisfied that the horse interfered with would have finished ahead the horse that, or whose driver, caused the interference the Judicial Committee must, in addition to any other penalty that may be imposed, place the horse that, or whose driver, caused the interference immediately after the horse interfered with".
All parties present acknowledged they understood the Rule.
There was a delay to the start of the hearing due to the late arrival of Mr D & P Ferguson who represented the connections of MEDIA QUEEN.
Judge's placings were:
1st No. 5 KIMANI
2nd No. 12 MEDIA QUEEN
3rd No. 7 WESTWIND FLYER
4th No. 9 HEZABLUECHIPBOY
5th No. 10 VEGAS STAR
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Mulcay submitted that the Stewards' position was Mr Ferguson clearly tightened up Mr Abernethy when he allowed his horse to shift inwards on the final turn. He said this interference resulted in HEZABLUECHIPBOY losing ground which he estimated to be between 2 and ½ and 3 lengths. He said it was noticeable that HEZABLUECHIPBOY was making ground on MEDIA QUEEN when Mr Abernethy was able to drive his horse out over the final 100 metres. He submitted that the Stewards' view was MEDIA QUEEN should be relegated from 2nd place.
Mr S Abernethy submitted that when Mr Ferguson moved up on his outside rounding the final turn he continued to lay in on HEZABLUECHIPBOY. He emphasised that Mr Ferguson made no effort to ease off him which resulted in HEZABLUECHIPBOY having its momentum stopped. He stated that he couldn’t go for his horse until the 100 metre mark. He believed that had the interference not occurred HEZABLUECHIPBOY would have beaten MEDIA QUEEN.
Mr D Ferguson submitted that he had got an advantage over Mr Abernethy rounding the final turn when his horse was travelling better than HEZABLUECHIPBOY. He stated that he didn’t move inwards when he was going forward.
Mr P Ferguson asked whether or not Mr Abernethy was already in a 3 wide position prior to Mr D Ferguson moving up on his outside rounding the final turn. He stated that Mr Abernethy was placing pressure onto Mr Ferguson at that point. He specified that Mr Ferguson had keep a straight line early in the run home.
Mrs Teaz submitted that she agreed with Mr Abernethy's interpretation of the interference and had nothing further to add.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee carefully considered all of the submissions presented. After synchronising the available video films and studying them frame by frame we established that MEDIA QUEEN did shift in rounding the final turn. Mr Ferguson did not have a clear advantage over Mr Abernethy to move him inwards rounding the final turn which visibly impeded HEZABLUECHIPBOY'S progress.
It was important to note that the head – on film clearly showed that in the early stages of the run home Mr Ferguson allowed his horse to shift inwards into the rightful running line of HEZABLUECHIPBOY. In doing so this meant that Mr Abernethy was forced to take a hold and restrain his horse when he received interference from MEDIA QUEEN. We consider the interference cost HEZABLUECHIPBOY more than 2 lengths at a crucial stage in the race. It was relevant that over the final 100 metres HEZABLUECHIPBOY was taking ground of MEDIA QUEEN.
After taking into account all the above factors the Committee was of the opinion that HEZABLUECHIPBOY would have beaten MEDIA QUEEN had such interference not occurred.
Decision:
The protest was upheld and the amended placings were:
1st No. 5 KIMANI
2nd No. 7 WESTWIND FLYER
3rd No. 9 HEZABLUECHIPBOY
4th No. 12 MEDIA QUEEN
5th No. 10 VEGAS STAR
It was ordered that dividends and stakes be paid in accordance with the amended placings.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Protest
Rules: 869A(2)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward, Mr S Abernethy - Driver of HEZABLUECHIPBOY, Mrs M Teaz - Co Trainer of HEZABLUECHIPBOY, Mr P Ferguson - assisting Mr D Ferguson
Respondent: Mr D Ferguson - Driver of MEDIA QUEEN
StipendSteward:
raceid: 007d68905b50ef4ddc89bfa041572592
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: Race 4
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 317aa838f148c3b89d61383818e0f2aa
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 05/05/2016
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 5 May 2016
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: ADooley
meet_pm1: AGodsalve
meet_pm2: none
name: Harness Racing Waikato