Waikato BOP H 5 January 2020 – R 3 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA12975
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 5 January 2020
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Race Date:
2020/01/05
Race Number:
R3
Decision:
As Mr Butcher has admitted the breach we find the charge proved.
Penalty:
Mr Butcher was granted a deferrment of his suspension until after racing on 11th January. His 1 day suspension would conclude after racing on 17th January 2020. Additionally we imposed a fine of $200 on Mr Butcher.
Facts:
This charge resulted after the running of Race 3. Mr Mulcay alleged that Mr D Butcher 'drove RECKON IM SMART carelessly shifting ground inwards when not sufficiently clear checking NORVIC ALPHA (Mr S McCaffrey) with approximately 400 metres to run'.
Mr Butcher was present at the hearing and acknowledged that :
(a) He understood the Rule, and that
(b) He admitted the breach
Rule 869(3)(b) states that 'No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly'.
Using the films Mr Mulcay identified the horses RECKON IM SMART and NORVIC ALPHA as the field neared the 500 metres mark. NORVIC ALPHA was in the last position with RECKON IM SMART improving around its outside. Mr Mulcay pointed out that Mr Butcher then angled RECKON IM SMART inwards in front of NORVIC ALPHA. As RECKON IM SMART crossed in front of NORVIC ALPHA, that horse made contact with its off fore on RECKON IM SMART'S sulky and briefly went off stride before regaining its gait. As a result NORVIC ALPHA lost several metres. Mr Mulcay added that it was apparent that NORVIC ALPHA was weakening at the time, and that Mr Butcher had made an error of judgement.
Mr Butcher accepted what Mr Mulcay had to say and added that he thought NORVIC APLHA was battling at the time.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay said that Mr Butcher had a clear record under this Rule and in fact had driven 281 times up until the beginning of racing today without breaching the Rule. He added that the Stewards believed the incident was low range and the consequential effects were minimal.
Referring to the JCA Penalty Guide, Mr Mulcay said the Guide provided a starting point of a fine of $500 or a 10 drive suspension. He said that in similar circumstances a driver had recently fined $200 and suspended for one days racing. He added that Mr Butcher made an early admission of the breach.
Mr Butcher said that he would prefer a suspension and a fine. He said he had committments on 11th January and any suspension could take effect after that meeting.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee confirmed the starting point as being a $500 fine or a 10 drive suspension. We concurred with Mr Mulcay that the incident was at the very lower end of the scale and given Mr Butcher's admission of the breach and his good record we agreed that our penalty would reflect those factors.
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: 703d637f21374a89a90082cfcaa602df
informantnumber: A12225
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 05/01/2020
hearing_title: Waikato BOP H 5 January 2020 - R 3 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
This charge resulted after the running of Race 3. Mr Mulcay alleged that Mr D Butcher 'drove RECKON IM SMART carelessly shifting ground inwards when not sufficiently clear checking NORVIC ALPHA (Mr S McCaffrey) with approximately 400 metres to run'.
Mr Butcher was present at the hearing and acknowledged that :
(a) He understood the Rule, and that
(b) He admitted the breach
Rule 869(3)(b) states that 'No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly'.
Using the films Mr Mulcay identified the horses RECKON IM SMART and NORVIC ALPHA as the field neared the 500 metres mark. NORVIC ALPHA was in the last position with RECKON IM SMART improving around its outside. Mr Mulcay pointed out that Mr Butcher then angled RECKON IM SMART inwards in front of NORVIC ALPHA. As RECKON IM SMART crossed in front of NORVIC ALPHA, that horse made contact with its off fore on RECKON IM SMART'S sulky and briefly went off stride before regaining its gait. As a result NORVIC ALPHA lost several metres. Mr Mulcay added that it was apparent that NORVIC ALPHA was weakening at the time, and that Mr Butcher had made an error of judgement.
Mr Butcher accepted what Mr Mulcay had to say and added that he thought NORVIC APLHA was battling at the time.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Butcher has admitted the breach we find the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay said that Mr Butcher had a clear record under this Rule and in fact had driven 281 times up until the beginning of racing today without breaching the Rule. He added that the Stewards believed the incident was low range and the consequential effects were minimal.
Referring to the JCA Penalty Guide, Mr Mulcay said the Guide provided a starting point of a fine of $500 or a 10 drive suspension. He said that in similar circumstances a driver had recently fined $200 and suspended for one days racing. He added that Mr Butcher made an early admission of the breach.
Mr Butcher said that he would prefer a suspension and a fine. He said he had committments on 11th January and any suspension could take effect after that meeting.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee confirmed the starting point as being a $500 fine or a 10 drive suspension. We concurred with Mr Mulcay that the incident was at the very lower end of the scale and given Mr Butcher's admission of the breach and his good record we agreed that our penalty would reflect those factors.
penalty:
Mr Butcher was granted a deferrment of his suspension until after racing on 11th January. His 1 day suspension would conclude after racing on 17th January 2020. Additionally we imposed a fine of $200 on Mr Butcher.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr D Butcher - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 045a9d4e2b5d394a3e84d665111e55c6
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R3
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: aa416707e920a614578419c71b66e3d1
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 05/01/2020
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 5 January 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: ADooley
meet_pm2: none
name: Harness Racing Waikato