Hawke’s Bay RI 17 October 2020 – R 3 – (request for ruling) – Chair, Mrs N Moffatt
ID: JCA13260
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Hawkes Bay RI - 17 October 2020
Meet Chair:
NMoffatt
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2020/10/17
Race Number:
R 3
Decision:
The Committee ruled that weights remain the same as the carded weight and directed that both runners be reweighed at 58kgs.
Facts:
Approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of Race 3 (1:30pm) an Information was lodged with the Judicial Committee requesting a ruling to determine whether weights in the race were correct.
Submissions for Decision:
MAKZABEEL (1) and RANGER (2) were contracted by NZTR to carry 58kgs. A short time prior to Race 3 the Stipendiary Stewards were advised by a club official that this weight was incorrect.
Mr Oatham said there was difficulty finding the official programme for the meeting; there did not appear to be one published but looking at conditions for this type of race, a 1 kilo penalty applies for horses who have won two races. Both horses therefore should have been carrying an additional 1 kg bringing their carded weight to 59kgs. It appeared to be a handicapping error, and the Stewards believed the weights needed to be adjusted to what they should have correctly been. Mr Oatham directed that the horses be weighed out at 59kgs.
Mr T Pike, the trainer of MAKZABEEL, requested a ruling from the Judicial Committee as he was not satisfied the weights should be increased.
Mr Pike explained that he did not personally have an issue with it (the weights going up) but the horses involved were the two favourites and a lot of money had been invested on them at the carded weights of 58kgs via fixed odds betting, and the Punters Club. It was an integrity issue and in his opinion, it would not be fair to punters to increase the weights of the two horses so close to the start of the race.
Mrs Sweeney was of the same opinion.
Mr Saundry said the weights had been published, punters had engaged, and he tended to agree with Mr Pike.
Reasons for Decision:
While it was regrettable and unfortunate that such an error had been made, it was not for this Judicial Committee to find out why or how it occurred. We were only required to make a ruling on the weights the two affected horses should carry.
There were two issues to consider; the disadvantage to the remainder of the field who would be 1kg worse off, and the betting public who backed the horses concerned at final-field fixed odds believing them to be carrying 58kgs.
With the knowledge that one group would feel justifiably aggrieved, the Judicial Committee carefully considered all submissions
We determined that the punters’ interests should take precedence. Weights had been declared for 3 days prior, the two horses were favourites, and significant sums of money had been invested on them. The Committee believed it would be grossly unfair on punters, who could be considered the lifeblood of the racing industry, to change weights at this late stage – some 10 minutes before the race.
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: 58c7dde8bf2aef12f75753d08856704e
informantnumber: A11957
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 18/10/2020
hearing_title: Hawke's Bay RI 17 October 2020 - R 3 - (request for ruling) - Chair, Mrs N Moffatt
charge:
facts:
Approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of Race 3 (1:30pm) an Information was lodged with the Judicial Committee requesting a ruling to determine whether weights in the race were correct.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
MAKZABEEL (1) and RANGER (2) were contracted by NZTR to carry 58kgs. A short time prior to Race 3 the Stipendiary Stewards were advised by a club official that this weight was incorrect.
Mr Oatham said there was difficulty finding the official programme for the meeting; there did not appear to be one published but looking at conditions for this type of race, a 1 kilo penalty applies for horses who have won two races. Both horses therefore should have been carrying an additional 1 kg bringing their carded weight to 59kgs. It appeared to be a handicapping error, and the Stewards believed the weights needed to be adjusted to what they should have correctly been. Mr Oatham directed that the horses be weighed out at 59kgs.
Mr T Pike, the trainer of MAKZABEEL, requested a ruling from the Judicial Committee as he was not satisfied the weights should be increased.
Mr Pike explained that he did not personally have an issue with it (the weights going up) but the horses involved were the two favourites and a lot of money had been invested on them at the carded weights of 58kgs via fixed odds betting, and the Punters Club. It was an integrity issue and in his opinion, it would not be fair to punters to increase the weights of the two horses so close to the start of the race.
Mrs Sweeney was of the same opinion.
Mr Saundry said the weights had been published, punters had engaged, and he tended to agree with Mr Pike.
reasonsfordecision:
While it was regrettable and unfortunate that such an error had been made, it was not for this Judicial Committee to find out why or how it occurred. We were only required to make a ruling on the weights the two affected horses should carry.
There were two issues to consider; the disadvantage to the remainder of the field who would be 1kg worse off, and the betting public who backed the horses concerned at final-field fixed odds believing them to be carrying 58kgs.
With the knowledge that one group would feel justifiably aggrieved, the Judicial Committee carefully considered all submissions
We determined that the punters’ interests should take precedence. Weights had been declared for 3 days prior, the two horses were favourites, and significant sums of money had been invested on them. The Committee believed it would be grossly unfair on punters, who could be considered the lifeblood of the racing industry, to change weights at this late stage – some 10 minutes before the race.
Decision:
The Committee ruled that weights remain the same as the carded weight and directed that both runners be reweighed at 58kgs.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Request Ruling
Rules:
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr T Pike - Trainer of MAKZABEEL (1), Mrs D Sweeney - Trainer of RANGER (2), Mr B Saundry - NZTR CEO
Respondent:
StipendSteward: Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
raceid: 415ffaeac43487d337c5e1bfc784bb83
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 3
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 1e71cc99d53dd8ed97250f26c2dfcab3
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 17/10/2020
meet_title: Hawkes Bay RI - 17 October 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: hawkes-bay-ri
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: NMoffatt
meet_pm1: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm2: none
name: Hawkes Bay RI