Levin RC 21 December 2017 – R 2 – Chair, Mr P Williams
ID: JCA12367
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Levin RC - 21 December 2017
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2017/12/21
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of race 2, the “First Sovereign Trust Horowhenua Christmas Cup”, Information A8796 was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr N Goodwin under Rule 638(3)(b)(ii). The information stated “that Apprentice Jockey, Sam O’Malley used his whip on excessively prior to the 100m”. Mr O’Malley signed the Information admitting the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed that was correct and also that he understood the Rule under which he was charged. He also confirmed he was aware of the new Guidelines regarding acceptable use of the whip effective from 1 August 2017.
Mr O‘Malley was assisted by Mrs Haigh the wife of the trainer of “High Quality”, Mr G Haigh, who is Mr O’Malley’s employer.
Rule 638(3)(b) provides: A Rider shall not:
(ii) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is excessive.
The “Guidelines With Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provide:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b) a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:-
Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jump-out a horse may be struck with the drawn whip up to five times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of five 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.
Mr Goodwin showed the side-on view of the race from the top of the straight identified Mr O’Malley on “High Quality” racing against the rail and at the rear of the 6 horse field. He said the Stewards had no problems with Mr O’Malley’s use of the whip from the 600m to the top of the straight. He said, however from the 350m to the 100m Mr O’Malley struck his horse approximately 9 times and whilst there were a couple of pauses they were not for the required 5 strides.
Mr O’Malley said did not disagree with Mr Goodwin’s interpretation of the film and had no further comments to make.
Mrs Haigh also did not disagree with Mr Goodwin’s comments. She said Mr O’Malley was still searching for his first raceday winning ride and was very keen to do well. She said Mr O’Malley was clearly over enthusiastic and not thinking about what he was doing which led to him breaching the Rule rather than him blatantly disregarding it.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Goodwin said Mr O’Malley had breached the same Rule at Waipukurau on 10 December 2017 and had been fined $300 for striking his horse 13 times without the required respite. He said today’s breach was not as serious (being only 9 strikes) and a fine would be an appropriate penalty although he did not specify an amount.
Mr O’Malley had no comments to make.
Mrs Haigh said she accepted that a fine was an appropriate penalty. She asked the Committee to note that Mr O’Malley was in the early stages of his career, was not a busy rider and any financial penalty would have a significant impact on him.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has reviewed the film of the race from the top of the straight to the 100m mark and taken into account the submissions made. The Committee notes Mr O’Malley struck his horse 10 times (1 more than stated by Mr Goodwin) without the required 5 stride respite and has therefore breached the new “Use of Whip Guidelines”. The committee believes the total number of strikes means the severity of the breach is low. However, as this is Mr O’Malley’s second breach of the Rule in the last 6 weeks a penalty lower than the $500 starting point detailed in the JCA Penalty Guide cannot be justified nor are there any additional aggravating factors to justify the penalty being greater than the starting point.
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: 53a1de1b1759a43585b742f0e5b52e89
informantnumber: A8796
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of the whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 21/12/2017
hearing_title: Levin RC 21 December 2017 - R 2 - Chair, Mr P Williams
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 2, the “First Sovereign Trust Horowhenua Christmas Cup”, Information A8796 was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr N Goodwin under Rule 638(3)(b)(ii). The information stated “that Apprentice Jockey, Sam O’Malley used his whip on excessively prior to the 100m”. Mr O’Malley signed the Information admitting the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed that was correct and also that he understood the Rule under which he was charged. He also confirmed he was aware of the new Guidelines regarding acceptable use of the whip effective from 1 August 2017.
Mr O‘Malley was assisted by Mrs Haigh the wife of the trainer of “High Quality”, Mr G Haigh, who is Mr O’Malley’s employer.
Rule 638(3)(b) provides: A Rider shall not:
(ii) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is excessive.
The “Guidelines With Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provide:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b) a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:-
Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jump-out a horse may be struck with the drawn whip up to five times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of five 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.
Mr Goodwin showed the side-on view of the race from the top of the straight identified Mr O’Malley on “High Quality” racing against the rail and at the rear of the 6 horse field. He said the Stewards had no problems with Mr O’Malley’s use of the whip from the 600m to the top of the straight. He said, however from the 350m to the 100m Mr O’Malley struck his horse approximately 9 times and whilst there were a couple of pauses they were not for the required 5 strides.
Mr O’Malley said did not disagree with Mr Goodwin’s interpretation of the film and had no further comments to make.
Mrs Haigh also did not disagree with Mr Goodwin’s comments. She said Mr O’Malley was still searching for his first raceday winning ride and was very keen to do well. She said Mr O’Malley was clearly over enthusiastic and not thinking about what he was doing which led to him breaching the Rule rather than him blatantly disregarding it.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Goodwin said Mr O’Malley had breached the same Rule at Waipukurau on 10 December 2017 and had been fined $300 for striking his horse 13 times without the required respite. He said today’s breach was not as serious (being only 9 strikes) and a fine would be an appropriate penalty although he did not specify an amount.
Mr O’Malley had no comments to make.
Mrs Haigh said she accepted that a fine was an appropriate penalty. She asked the Committee to note that Mr O’Malley was in the early stages of his career, was not a busy rider and any financial penalty would have a significant impact on him.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has reviewed the film of the race from the top of the straight to the 100m mark and taken into account the submissions made. The Committee notes Mr O’Malley struck his horse 10 times (1 more than stated by Mr Goodwin) without the required 5 stride respite and has therefore breached the new “Use of Whip Guidelines”. The committee believes the total number of strikes means the severity of the breach is low. However, as this is Mr O’Malley’s second breach of the Rule in the last 6 weeks a penalty lower than the $500 starting point detailed in the JCA Penalty Guide cannot be justified nor are there any additional aggravating factors to justify the penalty being greater than the starting point.
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3)(b)(ii)
Informant: Mr N Goodwin - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S O'Malley - Apprentice Jockey
Otherperson: Mrs L Haigh - Assisting Mr O'Malley
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 0d1fd4474581976bc27a83367d4ec4ab
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: d258c8a254fc570ee7aa59b7cef53011
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 21/12/2017
meet_title: Levin RC - 21 December 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: levin-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm2: none
name: Levin RC