HR Waikato 15 March 2015 – R 11
ID: JCA13202
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 15 March 2015
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Race Date:
2015/03/15
Race Number:
R11
Decision:
As the breach was admitted we find the charge proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly Mrs Yoakley's license to drive in Amateur drivers races is suspended from after today - 15 March - until after racing on 31 May 2015, 11 weeks.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 11, the IRT AMATEUR DRIVERS MOBILE PACE an information was filed pursuant to Rule 868 (2).
The Informant, Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay, alleged that Amateur Driver Mrs S Yoakley failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures between the 1600 metres and the 1200 metres to ensure that IMAJOLLYWALLY was given full opportunity to win the race or to obtain the best possible position and/or finishing place.
Rule 868 (2) provides : ' Every horseman shall take all reasonable and permissible measures at all times during the race to ensure that his horse is given the full opportunity to win or to obtain the best possible position and/or finishing place.'
Mrs Yoakley was present at the hearing and indicated that she admitted the breach. As this is a relatively serious charge the Committee offered Mrs Yoakley the opportunity to have it heard at a later date, which she declined. She did however accept the opportunity to have her husband Mr R Yoakley present as a support person. Mr Yoakley trains the horse IMAJOLLYWALLY.
Mr Mulcay demonstrated the incident by way of the available video films. He pointed out that IMAJOLLYWALLY had started the race from barrier position 6 and had been driven forward from the onset with the clear objective of being in the lead. As the field left the home turn the first time IMAJOLLYWALLY was on terms and outside the leader, BETTORS CARD. As the horses passed the 1800 metres mark it was clear that Mrs Yoakley was persisting in driving her horse forward in an attempt to gain the lead. IMAJOLLYWALLY managed to get about 3/4 length clear of BETTORS CARD for a short time however from about the 1600 metres to the 1200 metres the horse sat outside BETTORS CARD again. It was then clear that IMAJOLLYWALLY was under pressure and eventually weakened out and finished the race in last place about 90 lengths from the winner. Mr Mulcay told the Committee that the Stewards were particularly concerned that for a distance of about 400 metres of the race Mrs Yoakley had failed to exercise any judgement when she should have taken a hold of the horse to give it some respite.
Mrs Yoakley told the Committee that she intended to take IMAJOLLYWALLY to the front from the start. She said that she had called out to the driver of BETTORS CARD twice asking if she could go ahead of that horse. According to Mrs Yoakley she was told she could lead, however she was unable to achieve that. Mrs Yoakley acknowledged that she had seen a gap behind the leader at one stage which she could have taken to give her horse some respite. She said she had let her horse drift out of the running after it began to weaken as she knew it then had no chance of being in the finish. Mrs Yoakley told the Committee that she had driven in races on 5 occasions since obtaining her license 6 months ago, and that it was her first drive on IMAJOLLYWALLY.
Mr Yoakley added that he had trained the horse only for 10 days and knew that it had good speed. He said he and his wife agreed that as it was a 14 horse field the only chance they had was to take the horse to the front. He felt the horse would have had no chance if it had been driven from a rear position. He added that the horse sometimes made a noise when running and he understood it had a history of breathing difficulties due to a soft palate issue.
Mr Mulcay submitted a Horse Examination Report on IMAJOLLYWALLY from the Veterinary Surgeon on duty that day (Mr M Brightwell) which indicated that no post-race irregularities were detected.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay submitted that the JCA Penalty Guidelines for a breach of this Rule were not helpful in this matter as they were particular to Professional drivers. He advised the Committee that Mrs Yoakley had not breached this Rule in her previous 5 raceday drives. Mr Mulcay further stated that the horse IMAJOLLYWALLY was known to have a history of soft palate problems, however in this case it had recovered normally after today's race and there was no evidence of that matter being an issue.
Mr Mulcay referred to another Amateur Driver, 'F' who had breached a similar Rule in similar circumstances and was suspended from driving for 10 weeks, and advised that the Stewards felt that would be an appropriate penalty here.
Mrs Yoakley advised the Committee she had no upcoming engagements in the next 7 days. She told the Committee that she had intended driving in an Amateur Drivers championship race in the South Island in mid April.
Mr Yoakley asked the Committee to take into account that IMAJOLLYWALLY had been over-racing during the race.
Reasons for Penalty:
The JCA Penalty Guide for a breach of this Rule shows a fine of $750 or a 15 drive suspension. We accepted Mr Mulcay's submissions that this penalty should not apply when Amateur Drivers are involved.
We take into account that this is a serious breach of this Rule. Mrs Yoakley has very limited driving experience and admitted the breach at the first opportunity.
Balanced against this is the poor decisions Mrs Yoakley made in persisting with attempting to gain the lead when it was clear it was not available. As a result she extinguished any chance IMAJOLLYWALLY had in the race, which would be a major disappointment to anyone who had supported the horse on the totalisator. Mrs Yoakley's best option under the circumstances would have been to take a hold of the horse and show some patience in the expectation that the horse may have had some chance of figuring in the finish.
This Committee dealt with the matter of driver 'F' referred to by Mr Mulcay in his submissions. In our opinion while there were similarities in the two incidents we believe this matter to be worthy of a higher penalty due to the persistent manner in which Mrs Yoakley attacked the leading horse over a considerable distance.
Mrs Yoakley's plans to drive in an Amateur drivers Championship are outside any involvement of this Committee.
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: 51ade61ea73c47dd0568aeda536de297
informantnumber: A3666
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Failing to give horse full opportunity
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 02/03/2015
hearing_title: HR Waikato 15 March 2015 - R 11
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 11, the IRT AMATEUR DRIVERS MOBILE PACE an information was filed pursuant to Rule 868 (2).
The Informant, Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay, alleged that Amateur Driver Mrs S Yoakley failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures between the 1600 metres and the 1200 metres to ensure that IMAJOLLYWALLY was given full opportunity to win the race or to obtain the best possible position and/or finishing place.
Rule 868 (2) provides : ' Every horseman shall take all reasonable and permissible measures at all times during the race to ensure that his horse is given the full opportunity to win or to obtain the best possible position and/or finishing place.'
Mrs Yoakley was present at the hearing and indicated that she admitted the breach. As this is a relatively serious charge the Committee offered Mrs Yoakley the opportunity to have it heard at a later date, which she declined. She did however accept the opportunity to have her husband Mr R Yoakley present as a support person. Mr Yoakley trains the horse IMAJOLLYWALLY.
Mr Mulcay demonstrated the incident by way of the available video films. He pointed out that IMAJOLLYWALLY had started the race from barrier position 6 and had been driven forward from the onset with the clear objective of being in the lead. As the field left the home turn the first time IMAJOLLYWALLY was on terms and outside the leader, BETTORS CARD. As the horses passed the 1800 metres mark it was clear that Mrs Yoakley was persisting in driving her horse forward in an attempt to gain the lead. IMAJOLLYWALLY managed to get about 3/4 length clear of BETTORS CARD for a short time however from about the 1600 metres to the 1200 metres the horse sat outside BETTORS CARD again. It was then clear that IMAJOLLYWALLY was under pressure and eventually weakened out and finished the race in last place about 90 lengths from the winner. Mr Mulcay told the Committee that the Stewards were particularly concerned that for a distance of about 400 metres of the race Mrs Yoakley had failed to exercise any judgement when she should have taken a hold of the horse to give it some respite.
Mrs Yoakley told the Committee that she intended to take IMAJOLLYWALLY to the front from the start. She said that she had called out to the driver of BETTORS CARD twice asking if she could go ahead of that horse. According to Mrs Yoakley she was told she could lead, however she was unable to achieve that. Mrs Yoakley acknowledged that she had seen a gap behind the leader at one stage which she could have taken to give her horse some respite. She said she had let her horse drift out of the running after it began to weaken as she knew it then had no chance of being in the finish. Mrs Yoakley told the Committee that she had driven in races on 5 occasions since obtaining her license 6 months ago, and that it was her first drive on IMAJOLLYWALLY.
Mr Yoakley added that he had trained the horse only for 10 days and knew that it had good speed. He said he and his wife agreed that as it was a 14 horse field the only chance they had was to take the horse to the front. He felt the horse would have had no chance if it had been driven from a rear position. He added that the horse sometimes made a noise when running and he understood it had a history of breathing difficulties due to a soft palate issue.
Mr Mulcay submitted a Horse Examination Report on IMAJOLLYWALLY from the Veterinary Surgeon on duty that day (Mr M Brightwell) which indicated that no post-race irregularities were detected.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As the breach was admitted we find the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay submitted that the JCA Penalty Guidelines for a breach of this Rule were not helpful in this matter as they were particular to Professional drivers. He advised the Committee that Mrs Yoakley had not breached this Rule in her previous 5 raceday drives. Mr Mulcay further stated that the horse IMAJOLLYWALLY was known to have a history of soft palate problems, however in this case it had recovered normally after today's race and there was no evidence of that matter being an issue.
Mr Mulcay referred to another Amateur Driver, 'F' who had breached a similar Rule in similar circumstances and was suspended from driving for 10 weeks, and advised that the Stewards felt that would be an appropriate penalty here.
Mrs Yoakley advised the Committee she had no upcoming engagements in the next 7 days. She told the Committee that she had intended driving in an Amateur Drivers championship race in the South Island in mid April.
Mr Yoakley asked the Committee to take into account that IMAJOLLYWALLY had been over-racing during the race.
reasonsforpenalty:
The JCA Penalty Guide for a breach of this Rule shows a fine of $750 or a 15 drive suspension. We accepted Mr Mulcay's submissions that this penalty should not apply when Amateur Drivers are involved.
We take into account that this is a serious breach of this Rule. Mrs Yoakley has very limited driving experience and admitted the breach at the first opportunity.
Balanced against this is the poor decisions Mrs Yoakley made in persisting with attempting to gain the lead when it was clear it was not available. As a result she extinguished any chance IMAJOLLYWALLY had in the race, which would be a major disappointment to anyone who had supported the horse on the totalisator. Mrs Yoakley's best option under the circumstances would have been to take a hold of the horse and show some patience in the expectation that the horse may have had some chance of figuring in the finish.
This Committee dealt with the matter of driver 'F' referred to by Mr Mulcay in his submissions. In our opinion while there were similarities in the two incidents we believe this matter to be worthy of a higher penalty due to the persistent manner in which Mrs Yoakley attacked the leading horse over a considerable distance.
Mrs Yoakley's plans to drive in an Amateur drivers Championship are outside any involvement of this Committee.
penalty:
Accordingly Mrs Yoakley's license to drive in Amateur drivers races is suspended from after today - 15 March - until after racing on 31 May 2015, 11 weeks.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 868(2)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mrs S Yoakley, Amateur Driver, driver of IMAJOLLYWALLY
Otherperson: Mr R Yoakley, trainer of IMAJOLLYWALLY
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 77a21b1966a152d06854b9bfa4fd0578
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R11
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: f4e56a15c2c2a29150dd7b1a0bbe0520
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 15/03/2015
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 15 March 2015
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