Forbury Park TC 30 January 2014 – R 7 (instigating a protest)
ID: JCA12907
Meet Title:
Forbury Park TC - 30 January 2014
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
DSteel
Race Date:
2014/01/30
Race Number:
R 7
Decision:
In exercising our discretion and not interfering with the Judge’s placings we are satisfied that the interference caused by SMART ALEX did not affect the chances of SCANRECO BAY running 4th. We are satisfied that despite the interference from SMART ALEX, SCANRECO BAY was always going to finish behind VERDUN.
Placings are as called by the Judge. Stakes and dividends are to be paid accordingly.
Facts:
At the conclusion of Race 7, the SIGNPRINT PACE, an information was lodged by Mr Allison under 869(8)(b) alleging that just prior to the winning post SMART ALEX (D Dunn) shifted outwards with a resulting check to SCANRECO BAY.
Judge’s placings were:
1ST 9 MAJOR DONEGAL
2ND 6 SMART ALEX
3RD 7 MUSTANG BULLITT
4TH 1 VERDUN
5TH 3 SCANRECO BAY
The official margin between 4th and 5th was a neck.
Mr Dunn and Mr Heenan indicated that they represented the connections of their respective horses.
Rule 869(8) states:
The Judicial Committee may in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed pursuant to r 1003 thereof place any horse which:
(a) may have interfered with, or whose horseman may have interfered with, the progress or chance of any other horse or horses immediately after any horse from which it may have gained an advantage or whose chances or progress may have been affected thereby.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Allison demonstrated on the videos that some 20 metres from the winning post SMART ALEX, which was racing ungenerously in the passing lane hard up against the back of the winner, ducked out. As a consequence SMART ALEX came into contact with MUSTANG BULLITT, which in turn was forced wider on the track and onto SCANRECO BAY. SCANRECO BAY stumbled and lost momentum. Mr Allison said the Stipendiary Stewards had no concern concerning the run of SMART ALEX until the time it ducked out. He stated he believed the key issue for the Committee was the margin between SCANRECO BAY and VERDUN at the time the interference occurred. He demonstrated that VERDUN had steadily made ground on SCANRECO BAY the whole way up the straight.
Mr Heenan stated that he believed his horse would have finished 4th had he not suffered interference. He stated he was driving SCANRECO BAY out using the whip and pulling on the outside rein, as he was being pressured from the inside for some distance. He believed he was still marginally ahead of VERDUN at the time his horse stumbled.
Mr Dunn stated that he had not shifted out during the run up the straight and demonstrated that shortly before his horse ducked out he was behind and to the inside of the eventual winner. He said Mr Heenan’s horse was hanging in. He thus disagreed with Mr Heenan that there had been pressure from the inside during the run up the straight. He said that the videos demonstrated that SCANRECO BAY was always going to run 5th and he believed that VERDUN was in front of SCANRECO BAY at the time SMART ALEX ducked out.
Reasons for Decision:
We find that with some 20 metres to race SMART ALEX has ducked out. As a consequence that horse has come into contact with MUSTANG BULLITT, which in turn has come into contact with SCANRECO BAY. SCANRECO BAY stumbles as a result and loses momentum. We are thus satisfied that SCANRECO BAY suffered interference and the cause of that interference was SMART ALEX.
The incident is close to the winning post. Although the side-on video view of the incident is at an angle (it is certainly not 90 degrees) we are satisfied that VERDUN was at least equal with SCANRECO BAY when that horse stumbles. We accept that immediately prior to this Mr Heenan had been driving SCANRECO BAY out whilst pulling on the outside rein. But the outwards movement from SMART ALEX was sudden. VERDUN had steadily made ground on SCANRECO BAY having come from at least a length and a quarter behind SCANRECO BAY once the horses had straightened for the run home. Significantly VERDUN was still taking ground off SCANRECO BAY at the time of the interference.
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: 66f5b796d5c93b0529e60363b0fba086
informantnumber: A1708
horsename: SMART ALEX
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 22/01/2014
hearing_title: Forbury Park TC 30 January 2014 - R 7 (instigating a protest)
charge:
facts:
At the conclusion of Race 7, the SIGNPRINT PACE, an information was lodged by Mr Allison under 869(8)(b) alleging that just prior to the winning post SMART ALEX (D Dunn) shifted outwards with a resulting check to SCANRECO BAY.
Judge’s placings were:
1ST 9 MAJOR DONEGAL
2ND 6 SMART ALEX
3RD 7 MUSTANG BULLITT
4TH 1 VERDUN
5TH 3 SCANRECO BAY
The official margin between 4th and 5th was a neck.
Mr Dunn and Mr Heenan indicated that they represented the connections of their respective horses.
Rule 869(8) states:
The Judicial Committee may in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed pursuant to r 1003 thereof place any horse which:
(a) may have interfered with, or whose horseman may have interfered with, the progress or chance of any other horse or horses immediately after any horse from which it may have gained an advantage or whose chances or progress may have been affected thereby.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Allison demonstrated on the videos that some 20 metres from the winning post SMART ALEX, which was racing ungenerously in the passing lane hard up against the back of the winner, ducked out. As a consequence SMART ALEX came into contact with MUSTANG BULLITT, which in turn was forced wider on the track and onto SCANRECO BAY. SCANRECO BAY stumbled and lost momentum. Mr Allison said the Stipendiary Stewards had no concern concerning the run of SMART ALEX until the time it ducked out. He stated he believed the key issue for the Committee was the margin between SCANRECO BAY and VERDUN at the time the interference occurred. He demonstrated that VERDUN had steadily made ground on SCANRECO BAY the whole way up the straight.
Mr Heenan stated that he believed his horse would have finished 4th had he not suffered interference. He stated he was driving SCANRECO BAY out using the whip and pulling on the outside rein, as he was being pressured from the inside for some distance. He believed he was still marginally ahead of VERDUN at the time his horse stumbled.
Mr Dunn stated that he had not shifted out during the run up the straight and demonstrated that shortly before his horse ducked out he was behind and to the inside of the eventual winner. He said Mr Heenan’s horse was hanging in. He thus disagreed with Mr Heenan that there had been pressure from the inside during the run up the straight. He said that the videos demonstrated that SCANRECO BAY was always going to run 5th and he believed that VERDUN was in front of SCANRECO BAY at the time SMART ALEX ducked out.
reasonsfordecision:
We find that with some 20 metres to race SMART ALEX has ducked out. As a consequence that horse has come into contact with MUSTANG BULLITT, which in turn has come into contact with SCANRECO BAY. SCANRECO BAY stumbles as a result and loses momentum. We are thus satisfied that SCANRECO BAY suffered interference and the cause of that interference was SMART ALEX.
The incident is close to the winning post. Although the side-on video view of the incident is at an angle (it is certainly not 90 degrees) we are satisfied that VERDUN was at least equal with SCANRECO BAY when that horse stumbles. We accept that immediately prior to this Mr Heenan had been driving SCANRECO BAY out whilst pulling on the outside rein. But the outwards movement from SMART ALEX was sudden. VERDUN had steadily made ground on SCANRECO BAY having come from at least a length and a quarter behind SCANRECO BAY once the horses had straightened for the run home. Significantly VERDUN was still taking ground off SCANRECO BAY at the time of the interference.
Decision:
In exercising our discretion and not interfering with the Judge’s placings we are satisfied that the interference caused by SMART ALEX did not affect the chances of SCANRECO BAY running 4th. We are satisfied that despite the interference from SMART ALEX, SCANRECO BAY was always going to finish behind VERDUN.
Placings are as called by the Judge. Stakes and dividends are to be paid accordingly.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Protest
Rules: 869(8)(b)
Informant: Mr C Allison - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr D Dunn - Open Horseman and Driver of SMART ALEX, Mr M Heenan - Open Horseman and Driver of SCANRECO BAY
Respondent: Mr D Dunn - Open Horseman and Driver of SMART ALEX
StipendSteward:
raceid: d4330ee6e64d7df239a643eab36cedd6
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: ef886c07a6aa777c2b56afdb0e30b095
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 30/01/2014
meet_title: Forbury Park TC - 30 January 2014
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: forbury-park-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: DSteel
meet_pm2: none
name: Forbury Park TC