Franklin TC 11 April 2014 – R 6
ID: JCA12634
Meet Title:
Franklin TC - 11 April 2014
Meet Chair:
GJones
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 2:
TDavies
Race Date:
2014/04/11
Race Number:
R6
Decision:
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident to the Judicial Committee (the “Committee”) by way of video footage from the start of the race into the first bend going out of the home straight. He said Mr Lawson who had drawn barrier number 7 crossed over in front of IDEAL ALICE (barrier 4) and to her inside was ROGER RAMJET (barrier 3), when insufficiently clear of both horses. This caused contact between DESTINATION MOONS sulky wheel and the near fore-leg of IDEAL ALICE. Mr Muirhead said that as a consequence driver A Herlihy had to take hold of IDEAL ALICE, who was subsequently checked for a few strides.
Mr Muirhead noted that the incident occurred when all three horses were competing for the lead when racing into the first bend, and both ROGER RAMJET and IDEAL ALICE were hunting up on the inside of DESTINATION MOON endeavouring to keep that horse parked out. Mr Muirhead concluded his submission by urging the Committee to note that Mr Lawson had a duty of care to keep the two horses on his inside safe and it was the Stewards' view he failed meet the requisite standard of care.
Mr Lawson told the Committee that as he raced into the first bend he looked to his inside and thought he had sufficient room to shift inwards. He said that the two horses on his inside kept pressing forward. He conceded that it was tight and there was contact between his drive and IDEAL ALICE but he felt the interference was minimal. He said that following contact he looked back to assess the impact of the interference on the other horses.
Penalty:
Taking all the above matters into account we impose a fine of $300.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 6, the ROADEX MOBILE PACE 2200m an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead against Open Horseman Mr S Lawson, the driver of horse number 7, DESTINATION MOON, alleging a breach of Rule 869(3)(b).
The Information alleged:
“Horseman S Lawson drove DESTINATION MOON carelessly causing a check to IDEAL ALICE (A Herlihy) when crossing over when insufficiently clear racing into the first bend”.
Rule 869(3)(b) provides that:
“No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly”.
Mr Lawson endorsed on the Information that he admitted the breach of the rule and that he wished to be present at the hearing.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead produced Mr Lawson’s driving record which indicated 4 breaches of this rule in the previous 12 months. He that the Stewards were concerned that Mr Lawson’s offending was becoming repetitive and overall Mr Lawson had a disappointing record. He assessed the level of carelessness as being low to medium and noted that Mr Herlihy's actions avoided far worse consequences from occurring by taking hold of his horse. He submitted a fine of at least $350 should be imposed, particularly taking in account Mr Lawson’s recent driving record.
Mr Lawson submitted that the incident was minor. He acknowledged that his recent driving record was “not great” but asked the committee to take into account the number of drives he has in a season, noting that he was a relatively busy horseman. Mr Lawson submitted that he accepts he needs to exercise more care in the future.
Reasons for Penalty:
In consideration of penalty the Committee has taken into account Mr Lawson’s admission of the breach, the JCA penalty guidelines, penalties issued for similar offending and our assessment of the breach. JCA penalty guidelines establish a starting point for careless driving at 8 drives or a $400 fine.
The Committee reviewed the circumstances of the breach and determined Mr Lawson’s carelessness was low to mid–range. We have assessed Mr Lawson’s record as poor given that this is his 5th breach of this particular rule within 12 months. The Committee does not accept Mr Lawson’s submission that as a busy driver he is more susceptible to breaches of this nature. In that regard we note that Mr Lawson has had 148 drives so far this season and 330 last season (2012/13).
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: 4235d9cd57ab4f500628507351b63b4a
informantnumber: A2528
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 07/04/2014
hearing_title: Franklin TC 11 April 2014 - R 6
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 6, the ROADEX MOBILE PACE 2200m an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead against Open Horseman Mr S Lawson, the driver of horse number 7, DESTINATION MOON, alleging a breach of Rule 869(3)(b).
The Information alleged:
“Horseman S Lawson drove DESTINATION MOON carelessly causing a check to IDEAL ALICE (A Herlihy) when crossing over when insufficiently clear racing into the first bend”.
Rule 869(3)(b) provides that:
“No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly”.
Mr Lawson endorsed on the Information that he admitted the breach of the rule and that he wished to be present at the hearing.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident to the Judicial Committee (the “Committee”) by way of video footage from the start of the race into the first bend going out of the home straight. He said Mr Lawson who had drawn barrier number 7 crossed over in front of IDEAL ALICE (barrier 4) and to her inside was ROGER RAMJET (barrier 3), when insufficiently clear of both horses. This caused contact between DESTINATION MOONS sulky wheel and the near fore-leg of IDEAL ALICE. Mr Muirhead said that as a consequence driver A Herlihy had to take hold of IDEAL ALICE, who was subsequently checked for a few strides.
Mr Muirhead noted that the incident occurred when all three horses were competing for the lead when racing into the first bend, and both ROGER RAMJET and IDEAL ALICE were hunting up on the inside of DESTINATION MOON endeavouring to keep that horse parked out. Mr Muirhead concluded his submission by urging the Committee to note that Mr Lawson had a duty of care to keep the two horses on his inside safe and it was the Stewards' view he failed meet the requisite standard of care.
Mr Lawson told the Committee that as he raced into the first bend he looked to his inside and thought he had sufficient room to shift inwards. He said that the two horses on his inside kept pressing forward. He conceded that it was tight and there was contact between his drive and IDEAL ALICE but he felt the interference was minimal. He said that following contact he looked back to assess the impact of the interference on the other horses.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead produced Mr Lawson’s driving record which indicated 4 breaches of this rule in the previous 12 months. He that the Stewards were concerned that Mr Lawson’s offending was becoming repetitive and overall Mr Lawson had a disappointing record. He assessed the level of carelessness as being low to medium and noted that Mr Herlihy's actions avoided far worse consequences from occurring by taking hold of his horse. He submitted a fine of at least $350 should be imposed, particularly taking in account Mr Lawson’s recent driving record.
Mr Lawson submitted that the incident was minor. He acknowledged that his recent driving record was “not great” but asked the committee to take into account the number of drives he has in a season, noting that he was a relatively busy horseman. Mr Lawson submitted that he accepts he needs to exercise more care in the future.
reasonsforpenalty:
In consideration of penalty the Committee has taken into account Mr Lawson’s admission of the breach, the JCA penalty guidelines, penalties issued for similar offending and our assessment of the breach. JCA penalty guidelines establish a starting point for careless driving at 8 drives or a $400 fine.
The Committee reviewed the circumstances of the breach and determined Mr Lawson’s carelessness was low to mid–range. We have assessed Mr Lawson’s record as poor given that this is his 5th breach of this particular rule within 12 months. The Committee does not accept Mr Lawson’s submission that as a busy driver he is more susceptible to breaches of this nature. In that regard we note that Mr Lawson has had 148 drives so far this season and 330 last season (2012/13).
penalty:
Taking all the above matters into account we impose a fine of $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead (Stipendiary Steward)
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Lawson - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 41c0b1f36d95a9d971702ba14dae979f
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: f74104079d0a3c71ea84288eababcd27
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 11/04/2014
meet_title: Franklin TC - 11 April 2014
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: franklin-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GJones
meet_pm1: ADooley
meet_pm2: TDavies
name: Franklin TC