NZ Metro TC 30 June 2017 – R 8 – Chair, Mr D Jackson
ID: JCA12763
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 30 June 2017
Meet Chair:
DJackson
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2017/06/30
Race Number:
R 8
Decision:
The charge is proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly, Mr Faulks will be suspended from driving for four meetings, those meetings to be 6 July, 7 July, 9 July and 13 July 2017.
Facts:
Mr Faulks is charged with careless driving. He is alleged to have caused his horse, 'Arran Chief', to contact the front leg of 'Golden Gate' when attempting to improve near the 300m mark having been legitimately forced into a 3-wide position by 'Golden Gate' which had moved from the trail to the “one-one”. Mr McIlwrick’s drive, 'Golden Gate', broke as a result of the contact and lost all chance.
Mr Faulks did not admit the charge.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Renault and Mr Wallis replayed the relevant part of the race from all available angles and in particular showed that 'Golden Gate' was established in a trailing position with the improving 'Arran Chief' to its immediate outside with 500m to run whereupon by virtue of the lead horse retreating Mr McIlwrick seized the opportunity and moved legitimately into a 1:1 position, forcing Mr Faulks to his outside into a 3-wide position. As the horses rounded the bend into the home straight Mr Faulks has, in simple terms, cut a corner and rolled down on to 'Golden Gate' during which there was contact with 'Golden Gate' causing that horse to break and lose all chance.
The primary allegation is that Mr Faulks failed to ensure that he had sufficient room to complete the manoeuvre in getting past 'Golden Gate' and in particular, that when attempting to manoeuvre as he did, he failed to stop driving 'Arran Chie'f and take a hold of the horse in order to steer it away from contact. In other words, Mr Faulks allowed his horse to continue on its path inwards, thereby cutting the corner as described above and making contact with' Golden Gate'.
Mr McIlwrick did not give evidence which was of no consequence in the end because Mr Faulks admitted to the committee that there was contact as a result of the manoeuvre. Mr Faulks explained that he was aware and knew that his horse was getting tight onto Mr McIlwrick’s drive, but that the horse had a tendency to hang in and pointed to video evidence that the horse was indeed hanging in throughout this period and that to Mr Faulks’ mind, the best way of overcoming the problems created as a result of being legitimately forced 3-wide, was for him to drive on and get past 'Golden Gate' (as opposed to taking a hold of his horse) in the hope that that might be the best way of getting out of the situation and that he was otherwise doing his best to straighten his horse up at all times.
Reasons for Decision:
Having carefully reviewed the video evidence and the submissions and evidence provided by both parties, the committee determines that the charge is proved. It was clear to the committee on the video evidence that the charge was made out and Mr Faulks' admissions as to the fact of contact and his awareness that he was tight on Mr McIlwrick’s drive during the run into the home straight only serves to emphasise that the charge was made out. Mr Faulks’ error was in not taking a hold of his horse and steering it as opposed to attempting to drive on past 'Golden Gate' which ultimately caused the contact which is now seen him charged.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Renault submitted that this was low to mid-range carelessness and acknowledged that Mr Faulks’ drive did have a habit of hanging mid-race. Accordingly, Mr Renault submitted that, given Mr Faulks’ preference for a suspension as opposed to a fine (which Mr Faulks confirmed to the committee) that he be dealt with by way of a 10-drive suspension, which on Mr Faulks' frequency and volume of driving would see him suspended for 5 meetings. Mr Renault pointed out that Mr Faulks was an infrequent driver having had 24 drives last season and 36 drives this season. Otherwise he had an excellent record and had cooperated fully with the stewards.
Mr Faulks submitted that any penalty was going to hurt him given his lack of drives and that he did not have sufficient income to pay a fine and that whilst he only had a small amount of horses in work (3), it would be better for him to take a suspension.
Reasons for Penalty:
The committee determines that this is medium range careless driving. Mr Faulks failed to take a hold of his horse and steer it in circumstances where had he done so, he may have avoided the contact with 'Golden Gate'.
Having regard to the JCA penalty guidelines, the Committee adopts a starting point suspension of 10 drives, which for these purposes means 5 meetings. There will be a discount of 1 meeting or 2 drives for Mr Faulks’ excellent record. There are no other discounts available to Mr Faulks because he did not admit the charge.
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: 55efab74ef4b283b00a951eab85f1878
informantnumber: A09611
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless driving
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 04/07/2017
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 30 June 2017 - R 8 - Chair, Mr D Jackson
charge:
facts:
Mr Faulks is charged with careless driving. He is alleged to have caused his horse, 'Arran Chief', to contact the front leg of 'Golden Gate' when attempting to improve near the 300m mark having been legitimately forced into a 3-wide position by 'Golden Gate' which had moved from the trail to the “one-one”. Mr McIlwrick’s drive, 'Golden Gate', broke as a result of the contact and lost all chance.
Mr Faulks did not admit the charge.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Renault and Mr Wallis replayed the relevant part of the race from all available angles and in particular showed that 'Golden Gate' was established in a trailing position with the improving 'Arran Chief' to its immediate outside with 500m to run whereupon by virtue of the lead horse retreating Mr McIlwrick seized the opportunity and moved legitimately into a 1:1 position, forcing Mr Faulks to his outside into a 3-wide position. As the horses rounded the bend into the home straight Mr Faulks has, in simple terms, cut a corner and rolled down on to 'Golden Gate' during which there was contact with 'Golden Gate' causing that horse to break and lose all chance.
The primary allegation is that Mr Faulks failed to ensure that he had sufficient room to complete the manoeuvre in getting past 'Golden Gate' and in particular, that when attempting to manoeuvre as he did, he failed to stop driving 'Arran Chie'f and take a hold of the horse in order to steer it away from contact. In other words, Mr Faulks allowed his horse to continue on its path inwards, thereby cutting the corner as described above and making contact with' Golden Gate'.
Mr McIlwrick did not give evidence which was of no consequence in the end because Mr Faulks admitted to the committee that there was contact as a result of the manoeuvre. Mr Faulks explained that he was aware and knew that his horse was getting tight onto Mr McIlwrick’s drive, but that the horse had a tendency to hang in and pointed to video evidence that the horse was indeed hanging in throughout this period and that to Mr Faulks’ mind, the best way of overcoming the problems created as a result of being legitimately forced 3-wide, was for him to drive on and get past 'Golden Gate' (as opposed to taking a hold of his horse) in the hope that that might be the best way of getting out of the situation and that he was otherwise doing his best to straighten his horse up at all times.
reasonsfordecision:
Having carefully reviewed the video evidence and the submissions and evidence provided by both parties, the committee determines that the charge is proved. It was clear to the committee on the video evidence that the charge was made out and Mr Faulks' admissions as to the fact of contact and his awareness that he was tight on Mr McIlwrick’s drive during the run into the home straight only serves to emphasise that the charge was made out. Mr Faulks’ error was in not taking a hold of his horse and steering it as opposed to attempting to drive on past 'Golden Gate' which ultimately caused the contact which is now seen him charged.
Decision:
The charge is proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Renault submitted that this was low to mid-range carelessness and acknowledged that Mr Faulks’ drive did have a habit of hanging mid-race. Accordingly, Mr Renault submitted that, given Mr Faulks’ preference for a suspension as opposed to a fine (which Mr Faulks confirmed to the committee) that he be dealt with by way of a 10-drive suspension, which on Mr Faulks' frequency and volume of driving would see him suspended for 5 meetings. Mr Renault pointed out that Mr Faulks was an infrequent driver having had 24 drives last season and 36 drives this season. Otherwise he had an excellent record and had cooperated fully with the stewards.
Mr Faulks submitted that any penalty was going to hurt him given his lack of drives and that he did not have sufficient income to pay a fine and that whilst he only had a small amount of horses in work (3), it would be better for him to take a suspension.
reasonsforpenalty:
The committee determines that this is medium range careless driving. Mr Faulks failed to take a hold of his horse and steer it in circumstances where had he done so, he may have avoided the contact with 'Golden Gate'.
Having regard to the JCA penalty guidelines, the Committee adopts a starting point suspension of 10 drives, which for these purposes means 5 meetings. There will be a discount of 1 meeting or 2 drives for Mr Faulks’ excellent record. There are no other discounts available to Mr Faulks because he did not admit the charge.
penalty:
Accordingly, Mr Faulks will be suspended from driving for four meetings, those meetings to be 6 July, 7 July, 9 July and 13 July 2017.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(B)
Informant: Mr S P Renault - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr A Faulks - Licenced Horseman
Otherperson: Mr S Wallis - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 97b927ae8c9c9ded3f8e47505a97514c
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 8
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: edb2aee120c35f8488dc3d932afd3295
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 30/06/2017
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 30 June 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nz-metro-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: DJackson
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: NZ Metro TC