R Te Aroha 15 March 2019 – R 1 – Chair, Mr A Dooley
ID: JCA12458
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
R Te Aroha - 15 March 2019
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
BScott
Race Date:
2019/03/15
Race Number:
R1
Decision:
As Mr Wellwood admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
Penalty:
The Training Partnership of Mr James & Mr Wellwood was fined $600.
Facts:
This charge arises from race 1, Grand Tavern 2200. An Information was filed pursuant to Rule 534 (2)(a). The Informant, Stipendiary Steward, Mr Davidson, alleged that Trainers (Mr James and Mr Wellwood) advised Stewards that CORNISH POINT had mistakenly been administered a substance (on race morning) and was scratched (by order of the Stewards) after official scratching time.
Rule 534 (2) (a) provides:
(2) (a) If, after the scratching deadline (as specified for the relevant Race Meeting in accordance with Rule 510(d)(v) or as amended by NZTR from time to time) on the relevant Race day, a Trainer or an Owner or lessee (as the case may be) or his Agent or its Racing Manager wishes to scratch a horse from a Race he must (whether by production of a veterinary certificate acceptable to the Stipendiary Steward or otherwise) attempt to satisfy the Stipendiary Steward that there are circumstances which warrant the horse being scratched and that he is therefore entitled to scratch it after that time. If the Stipendiary Steward is so satisfied, the Stipendiary Steward may authorise the Trainer or Owner or lessee (as the case may be) or his Agent or its Racing Manager to scratch the horse. [Amended 1 June 2013]
Mr Wellwood said that he understood the Rule and confirmed that he admitted the breach.
At the start of the hearing which commenced after race 5, Mr Davidson made a request to the Judicial Committee to amend the Information. The Committee permitted Mr Davidson to amend the Information to read Rule 534(2)(a) and replace Rule 534 (2)(b). The Information was endorsed accordingly.
Mr Davidson advised the Committee that just prior to race 1 Mr Wellwood, the Co - Trainer of CORNISH POINT, informed the Stewards that he had made an error and mistakenly administered a substance (Regumate) on race morning. He said that Mr Wellwood wished to scratch the horse and the Stewards ordered the scratching of CORNISH POINT given the circumstances. He stated that Mr Wellwood was very apologetic for what happened.
In response to a question from the Committee, Mr Davidson said that CORNISH POINT was officially scratched at 12.14 pm. We note that race 1 was scheduled to start at 12.27 pm.
Mr Wellwood said that there were 4 Mares in the stable that were administered Regumate this morning which included CORNISH POINT. He said that it was his responsibility to administer the substance. He admitted that he had a “blank” and it was human error on his part. He stated that he had a “flashback and his heart sunk” when he was saddling up the filly and at that point he told the Stewards. He said the stable prides itself on Integrity and he would look into the processes that are in place so this breach does not happen again.
In response to questions from the Committee, Mr Wellwood said that 4 Mares in the stable are administered a 10 ml daily oral dosage of Regumate. He acknowledged to the Committee that he knew the names of the 4 Mares but he didn’t think about CORNISH POINT racing later in the day. He confirmed that CORNISH POINT, a 3 year old filly, was administered a 10 ml daily oral dosage of Regumate. He said that he was aware CORNISH POINT was racing today.
Mr Davidson informed the Committee that the RIU Investigators became involved once the breach was identified. He said that they were satisfied that the breach was human error.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Davidson said that the Training Partnership had a clear record under this Rule and noted that Mr Wellwood joined the Partnership on 1 August 2018. He said this was a difficult breach to assess with CORNISH POINT being late scratched by the Stewards as the horse entered the birdcage. He said Mr Wellwood could have run the risk of racing the horse but he was honest with the Stewards. He said the circumstances could have been a lot worse and the Stewards had discussed this matter with Mr Wellwood. Mr Davidson submitted a fine in the vicinity of $300 to $400 would be appropriate.
Mr Wellwood said that the stable has a high level of Integrity and this was a bad case of human error.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
The JCA Penalty Guide has no starting point for a breach of this particular Rule. It is obvious that the circumstances surrounding this case are far greater than a Trainer scratching a horse after the 7.30 am deadline.
The JCA database showed that there is no precedent for this breach.
The aggravating factors were the breach was not identified by Mr Wellwood until the horse was being saddled up prior to race 1. As a consequence the horse was late scratched just 13 minutes before the scheduled start time. This would have impacted on the betting public, connections and the Te Aroha Club because CORNISH POINT was one of the favourites. The Committee were concerned that Mr Wellwood told us that he personally administered Regumate yet he told the Committee that he was aware the horse was racing later in the day. We therefore deemed Mr Wellwood’s culpability in the high range. In addition we were surprised that a successful Training Partnership did not have better systems in place to prevent an incident like this from occurring. Conversely we accept that it was human error and there was no intent on Mr Wellwood’s part to gain any advantage.
The mitigating factors were Mr Wellwood’s forthright admission of the breach and the Training Partnership’s clear record. For these collective factors we afforded a small reduction in penalty.
After taking into account all of the above factors the Committee considered that an appropriate penalty was a $600 fine.
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: 5ea501c576c1ce21f8d48227ae76e758
informantnumber: A11266
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Mistakenly administered a substance on race morning
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 18/03/2019
hearing_title: R Te Aroha 15 March 2019 - R 1 - Chair, Mr A Dooley
charge:
facts:
This charge arises from race 1, Grand Tavern 2200. An Information was filed pursuant to Rule 534 (2)(a). The Informant, Stipendiary Steward, Mr Davidson, alleged that Trainers (Mr James and Mr Wellwood) advised Stewards that CORNISH POINT had mistakenly been administered a substance (on race morning) and was scratched (by order of the Stewards) after official scratching time.
Rule 534 (2) (a) provides:
(2) (a) If, after the scratching deadline (as specified for the relevant Race Meeting in accordance with Rule 510(d)(v) or as amended by NZTR from time to time) on the relevant Race day, a Trainer or an Owner or lessee (as the case may be) or his Agent or its Racing Manager wishes to scratch a horse from a Race he must (whether by production of a veterinary certificate acceptable to the Stipendiary Steward or otherwise) attempt to satisfy the Stipendiary Steward that there are circumstances which warrant the horse being scratched and that he is therefore entitled to scratch it after that time. If the Stipendiary Steward is so satisfied, the Stipendiary Steward may authorise the Trainer or Owner or lessee (as the case may be) or his Agent or its Racing Manager to scratch the horse. [Amended 1 June 2013]
Mr Wellwood said that he understood the Rule and confirmed that he admitted the breach.
At the start of the hearing which commenced after race 5, Mr Davidson made a request to the Judicial Committee to amend the Information. The Committee permitted Mr Davidson to amend the Information to read Rule 534(2)(a) and replace Rule 534 (2)(b). The Information was endorsed accordingly.
Mr Davidson advised the Committee that just prior to race 1 Mr Wellwood, the Co - Trainer of CORNISH POINT, informed the Stewards that he had made an error and mistakenly administered a substance (Regumate) on race morning. He said that Mr Wellwood wished to scratch the horse and the Stewards ordered the scratching of CORNISH POINT given the circumstances. He stated that Mr Wellwood was very apologetic for what happened.
In response to a question from the Committee, Mr Davidson said that CORNISH POINT was officially scratched at 12.14 pm. We note that race 1 was scheduled to start at 12.27 pm.
Mr Wellwood said that there were 4 Mares in the stable that were administered Regumate this morning which included CORNISH POINT. He said that it was his responsibility to administer the substance. He admitted that he had a “blank” and it was human error on his part. He stated that he had a “flashback and his heart sunk” when he was saddling up the filly and at that point he told the Stewards. He said the stable prides itself on Integrity and he would look into the processes that are in place so this breach does not happen again.
In response to questions from the Committee, Mr Wellwood said that 4 Mares in the stable are administered a 10 ml daily oral dosage of Regumate. He acknowledged to the Committee that he knew the names of the 4 Mares but he didn’t think about CORNISH POINT racing later in the day. He confirmed that CORNISH POINT, a 3 year old filly, was administered a 10 ml daily oral dosage of Regumate. He said that he was aware CORNISH POINT was racing today.
Mr Davidson informed the Committee that the RIU Investigators became involved once the breach was identified. He said that they were satisfied that the breach was human error.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Wellwood admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Davidson said that the Training Partnership had a clear record under this Rule and noted that Mr Wellwood joined the Partnership on 1 August 2018. He said this was a difficult breach to assess with CORNISH POINT being late scratched by the Stewards as the horse entered the birdcage. He said Mr Wellwood could have run the risk of racing the horse but he was honest with the Stewards. He said the circumstances could have been a lot worse and the Stewards had discussed this matter with Mr Wellwood. Mr Davidson submitted a fine in the vicinity of $300 to $400 would be appropriate.
Mr Wellwood said that the stable has a high level of Integrity and this was a bad case of human error.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
The JCA Penalty Guide has no starting point for a breach of this particular Rule. It is obvious that the circumstances surrounding this case are far greater than a Trainer scratching a horse after the 7.30 am deadline.
The JCA database showed that there is no precedent for this breach.
The aggravating factors were the breach was not identified by Mr Wellwood until the horse was being saddled up prior to race 1. As a consequence the horse was late scratched just 13 minutes before the scheduled start time. This would have impacted on the betting public, connections and the Te Aroha Club because CORNISH POINT was one of the favourites. The Committee were concerned that Mr Wellwood told us that he personally administered Regumate yet he told the Committee that he was aware the horse was racing later in the day. We therefore deemed Mr Wellwood’s culpability in the high range. In addition we were surprised that a successful Training Partnership did not have better systems in place to prevent an incident like this from occurring. Conversely we accept that it was human error and there was no intent on Mr Wellwood’s part to gain any advantage.
The mitigating factors were Mr Wellwood’s forthright admission of the breach and the Training Partnership’s clear record. For these collective factors we afforded a small reduction in penalty.
After taking into account all of the above factors the Committee considered that an appropriate penalty was a $600 fine.
penalty:
The Training Partnership of Mr James & Mr Wellwood was fined $600.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 534(2)(a)
Informant: Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr R James / Mr R Wellwood - Co Trainers of CORNISH POINT
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 833d6955b056d74e82c851c55e2cfbc1
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R1
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 32181a10a49837a2e48d0476642199b2
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 15/03/2019
meet_title: R Te Aroha - 15 March 2019
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: r-te-aroha-
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: ADooley
meet_pm1: BScott
meet_pm2: none
name: R Te Aroha