Waikato BOP H 24 December 2020 – R 11 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA13304
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 24 December 2020
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Race Date:
2020/12/24
Race Number:
R11
Decision:
As Mr Whittaker has admitted the breach the charge is proved.
Penalty:
Mr Whittaker was fined the sum of $200.
Facts:
After the running of Race 11, Mr Mulcay submitted an Information in which he alleged that Junior Driver, Mr Whittaker 'failed to concede his position driving BANKERS GOLD to IDEAL AGENT approaching the 1800 metres causing his own horse to break from its gait'.
Mr Whittaker, assisted by Mr McCaffrey who was also the trainer of BANKERS GOLD acknowledged that he :
(a) understood the Rule and Regulations, and that
(b) he admitted the breach.
Rule 869 (4) provids that 'No driver shall during any race do anything which interferes or is likely to interfere with his own horse and/or any other horse or its progress'.
The Shifting Ground Regulations (1) state that 'where a horse does not have clear passage during a race the driver shall be permitted to shift ground-Inwards and ease another runner down the track provided such driver is in a position to do so by having sufficient advantage over the horse about to be shifted inwards and that horse is clear of other horses to its inside so it can be moved in'.
Using the films Mr Mulcay identified the horses BANKERS GOLD (Mr Whittaker) and IDEAL AGENT (Mr White) as the field left the straight approaching the 1800 metres mark. IDEAL AGENT was on the outside and ahead of BANKERS GOLD. Mr White was entitled to shift inwards at that point as he had the advantage over Mr Whittaker. Mr Mulcay pointed out that as Mr White angled IDEAL AGENT inwards Mr Whittaker failed to concede his position and shift inwards which under the Regulations he was required to do. Instead Mr Whittaker attempted to maintain his position, and in doing so the front leg of BANKERS GOLD made contact with IDEAL AGENT, causing BANKERS GOLD to go off stride, losing several lengths.
Mr McCaffrey, for Mr Whittaker said that he was also the trainer of BANKERS GOLD. Using the films he pointed out that the sulky being used on BANKERS GOLD was narrower than most sulkies, and may have given Mr Whittaker the impression that he had more room to manoevre than he actually did.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay said that Mr Whittaker had admitted the breach, and that he did not have any prior breaches of a similar nature. He said that BANKERS GOLD had settled quite quickly after the incident and had not interfered with any other horses. He said that in the Stewards view the matter could be dealt with by way of a fine which he felt could be in the range of $200-$300.
Mr Whittaker had no comment on a likely penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
The JCA Penalty Guide has a starting point of a $300 fine or a 6 drive suspension. The Committee took into account Mr Whittaker's admission of the breach, his clear record and that fact that he was a Junior Driver. There were no other runners impacted by the incident and we assess the breach to be at the low level. On that basis we determined that a fine would be an appropriate penalty. The starting point is $300, and given the mitigating circumstances referred to we felt that a fine lower than that level could be imposed.
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: 5f398c74708535115ed44db7899e103c
informantnumber: A11109
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Failed to concede position
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 26/12/2020
hearing_title: Waikato BOP H 24 December 2020 - R 11 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
After the running of Race 11, Mr Mulcay submitted an Information in which he alleged that Junior Driver, Mr Whittaker 'failed to concede his position driving BANKERS GOLD to IDEAL AGENT approaching the 1800 metres causing his own horse to break from its gait'.
Mr Whittaker, assisted by Mr McCaffrey who was also the trainer of BANKERS GOLD acknowledged that he :
(a) understood the Rule and Regulations, and that
(b) he admitted the breach.
Rule 869 (4) provids that 'No driver shall during any race do anything which interferes or is likely to interfere with his own horse and/or any other horse or its progress'.
The Shifting Ground Regulations (1) state that 'where a horse does not have clear passage during a race the driver shall be permitted to shift ground-Inwards and ease another runner down the track provided such driver is in a position to do so by having sufficient advantage over the horse about to be shifted inwards and that horse is clear of other horses to its inside so it can be moved in'.
Using the films Mr Mulcay identified the horses BANKERS GOLD (Mr Whittaker) and IDEAL AGENT (Mr White) as the field left the straight approaching the 1800 metres mark. IDEAL AGENT was on the outside and ahead of BANKERS GOLD. Mr White was entitled to shift inwards at that point as he had the advantage over Mr Whittaker. Mr Mulcay pointed out that as Mr White angled IDEAL AGENT inwards Mr Whittaker failed to concede his position and shift inwards which under the Regulations he was required to do. Instead Mr Whittaker attempted to maintain his position, and in doing so the front leg of BANKERS GOLD made contact with IDEAL AGENT, causing BANKERS GOLD to go off stride, losing several lengths.
Mr McCaffrey, for Mr Whittaker said that he was also the trainer of BANKERS GOLD. Using the films he pointed out that the sulky being used on BANKERS GOLD was narrower than most sulkies, and may have given Mr Whittaker the impression that he had more room to manoevre than he actually did.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Whittaker has admitted the breach the charge is proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay said that Mr Whittaker had admitted the breach, and that he did not have any prior breaches of a similar nature. He said that BANKERS GOLD had settled quite quickly after the incident and had not interfered with any other horses. He said that in the Stewards view the matter could be dealt with by way of a fine which he felt could be in the range of $200-$300.
Mr Whittaker had no comment on a likely penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
The JCA Penalty Guide has a starting point of a $300 fine or a 6 drive suspension. The Committee took into account Mr Whittaker's admission of the breach, his clear record and that fact that he was a Junior Driver. There were no other runners impacted by the incident and we assess the breach to be at the low level. On that basis we determined that a fine would be an appropriate penalty. The starting point is $300, and given the mitigating circumstances referred to we felt that a fine lower than that level could be imposed.
penalty:
Mr Whittaker was fined the sum of $200.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(4) and Shifting Ground Regulations
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr L Whittaker - Junior Driver
Otherperson: Mr S McCaffery - Open Driver assisting Mr Whittake
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 63283781db4c4d3f4c9e6884308a313b
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: e8ff73bae151592ec6eaa0afa82b5698
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 24/12/2020
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 24 December 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: none
meet_pm2: none
name: Harness Racing Waikato