Archive Decision

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Hawke’s Bay RI 24 May 2018 – R 6 – Chair, Mr P Williams

ID: JCA12162

Applicant:
Mr B Jones - Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Ms D Johnson - Licensed Jockey

Other Person:
Mr D Balcombe - Stipendiary Steward

Information Number:
A7347

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Careless Riding

Rules:
638(1)(d)

Plea:
admitted

Code:
Thoroughbred

Meet Title:
Hawkes Bay RI - 24 May 2018

Meet Chair:
PWilliams

Meet Committee Member 1:
TCastles

Race Date:
2018/05/24

Race Number:
R6

Decision:

As Ms Johnson admitted the breach the charge is found proved.

Penalty:

Ms Johnson is suspended from the close of racing on Wednesday 30 May 2018 to the close of racing on Wednesday 6 June 2018.

Facts:

Following the running of race 6, the “Corteva Agriscience 1200” Information A7347 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr B Jones under Rule 638(1)(d). The Information stated “that D Johnson allowed her mount “Raposa Rapida” to shift in when not sufficiently clear of “Carillion” which was checked passing the 100 metres”.
 
Ms Johnson signed the Information stating she admitted the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed that was correct and that she understood the Rule under which she was charged.
 
Rule 638 (1) (d) states “A rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Judicial Committee considers to be .....careless”.
 
Mr Balcombe, using the head-on film from the top of the straight, identified Mr Allan leading the race on “Carillion” with Ms Johnson to his outside and approximately one and a half lengths behind. The two runners were well in front of the rest of the field. Mr Balcombe said the film showed that under a hard ride from Ms Johnson “Raposa Rapida” was making ground on “Carillion” and approaching the 100m drifted in and caused a check to that horse after which she immediately straightened her mount.
 
Ms Johnson thought the incident was a minor one. She said her horse had gone past “Carillion” quickly and had only gone in for a stride before she straightened. She agreed with a comment from one of the Committee that the horse was racing greenly and said she had considered defending the charge. At this point she was given the opportunity by the Chair of the Committee to amend her statement on the Information admitting the breach but said she did not wish to.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Jones said Ms Johnson had 5 previous breaches of this Rule in the previous 12 months - being on 24 January 2018 when she received a 10 national riding days (NRD) suspension, 7 December 2017 (5 NRD), 7 November 2017 (5NRD), 23 September 2017 (5 NRD) and 16 August 2017 (5 NRD). He said the film clearly showed Ms Johnson was a bare length to a length and a quarter in front of Mr Allan when the incident occurred and he considered the severity of the breach to be in the low to mid-range. He asked the Committee to take into account Ms Johnson’s admittance of the breach but did not, however, make a specific submission on what penalty should be imposed.
 
Ms Johnson asked that any suspension be deferred until after racing at Matamata on 30 May 2018.

Reasons for Penalty:

The Committee has reviewed films of the incident and considered all the submissions made and notes that Ms Johnson did not disagree with the Stewards interpretation of the films. The head on film clearly shows Ms Johnson coming up alongside Mr Allan approaching the 100m mark and then drifting in and causing Mr Allan to restrain his mount and move to the outside of Ms Johnson for the remainder of the run to the line. The side on film confirms Ms Johnson was, at best, a length in front of Mr Allan when she drifted across him and whilst Ms Johnson did take immediate corrective action the damage was done. Both horses were well in front of the rest of the field at the time with Ms Johnson going on to win the race. After viewing the film of the incident Mr Allan decided not to protest – the winning margin was two and a quarter lengths.
 
The Committee believes on this occasion a period of suspension is an appropriate penalty. The Committee believes the severity of the breach is in the low-mid range and the starting point for such a breach is a suspension of 7 national riding days. From that start point we reduce the penalty by one national riding day in recognition of Ms Johnson’s admittance of the breach but also, after consideration, her riding record under this Rule since late January 2018 since when she has had approximately 350 raceday rides.
 
Ms Johnson is suspended for 6 national riding days. Her request for a deferment of the suspension is approved in terms of Rule 1106(2).

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: 3a0d07069beeea84d2c18e13eac65e87


informantnumber: A7347


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Careless Riding


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 25/05/2018


hearing_title: Hawke's Bay RI 24 May 2018 - R 6 - Chair, Mr P Williams


charge:


facts:

Following the running of race 6, the “Corteva Agriscience 1200” Information A7347 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr B Jones under Rule 638(1)(d). The Information stated “that D Johnson allowed her mount “Raposa Rapida” to shift in when not sufficiently clear of “Carillion” which was checked passing the 100 metres”.
 
Ms Johnson signed the Information stating she admitted the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed that was correct and that she understood the Rule under which she was charged.
 
Rule 638 (1) (d) states “A rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Judicial Committee considers to be .....careless”.
 
Mr Balcombe, using the head-on film from the top of the straight, identified Mr Allan leading the race on “Carillion” with Ms Johnson to his outside and approximately one and a half lengths behind. The two runners were well in front of the rest of the field. Mr Balcombe said the film showed that under a hard ride from Ms Johnson “Raposa Rapida” was making ground on “Carillion” and approaching the 100m drifted in and caused a check to that horse after which she immediately straightened her mount.
 
Ms Johnson thought the incident was a minor one. She said her horse had gone past “Carillion” quickly and had only gone in for a stride before she straightened. She agreed with a comment from one of the Committee that the horse was racing greenly and said she had considered defending the charge. At this point she was given the opportunity by the Chair of the Committee to amend her statement on the Information admitting the breach but said she did not wish to.

appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

As Ms Johnson admitted the breach the charge is found proved.

sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Jones said Ms Johnson had 5 previous breaches of this Rule in the previous 12 months - being on 24 January 2018 when she received a 10 national riding days (NRD) suspension, 7 December 2017 (5 NRD), 7 November 2017 (5NRD), 23 September 2017 (5 NRD) and 16 August 2017 (5 NRD). He said the film clearly showed Ms Johnson was a bare length to a length and a quarter in front of Mr Allan when the incident occurred and he considered the severity of the breach to be in the low to mid-range. He asked the Committee to take into account Ms Johnson’s admittance of the breach but did not, however, make a specific submission on what penalty should be imposed.
 
Ms Johnson asked that any suspension be deferred until after racing at Matamata on 30 May 2018.

reasonsforpenalty:

The Committee has reviewed films of the incident and considered all the submissions made and notes that Ms Johnson did not disagree with the Stewards interpretation of the films. The head on film clearly shows Ms Johnson coming up alongside Mr Allan approaching the 100m mark and then drifting in and causing Mr Allan to restrain his mount and move to the outside of Ms Johnson for the remainder of the run to the line. The side on film confirms Ms Johnson was, at best, a length in front of Mr Allan when she drifted across him and whilst Ms Johnson did take immediate corrective action the damage was done. Both horses were well in front of the rest of the field at the time with Ms Johnson going on to win the race. After viewing the film of the incident Mr Allan decided not to protest – the winning margin was two and a quarter lengths.
 
The Committee believes on this occasion a period of suspension is an appropriate penalty. The Committee believes the severity of the breach is in the low-mid range and the starting point for such a breach is a suspension of 7 national riding days. From that start point we reduce the penalty by one national riding day in recognition of Ms Johnson’s admittance of the breach but also, after consideration, her riding record under this Rule since late January 2018 since when she has had approximately 350 raceday rides.
 
Ms Johnson is suspended for 6 national riding days. Her request for a deferment of the suspension is approved in terms of Rule 1106(2).

penalty:

Ms Johnson is suspended from the close of racing on Wednesday 30 May 2018 to the close of racing on Wednesday 6 June 2018.

hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: 638(1)(d)


Informant: Mr B Jones - Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: Ms D Johnson - Licensed Jockey


Otherperson: Mr D Balcombe - Stipendiary Steward


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: 381c9e3e7361ec5f2d59b64a3f7be3d4


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R6


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: 313a4c7cb15546179a35ea000f6f803b


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 24/05/2018


meet_title: Hawkes Bay RI - 24 May 2018


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: hawkes-bay-ri


meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing


meet_chair: PWilliams


meet_pm1: TCastles


meet_pm2: none


name: Hawkes Bay RI