Oamaru HRC 18 September 2011 – R 3
ID: JCA13320
Meet Title:
Oamaru HRC - 18 September 2011
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
DSteel
Race Date:
2011/09/18
Race Number:
R3
Decision:
The charge is dismissed.
Charge:
Mr Ydgren alleged that Mr Patterson failed to drive out his horse LOOSE CANNON over the final stages to an acceptable standard.
Facts:
LOOSE CANNON finished 2nd. The margin between 1st and 2nd was a neck.
Mr Renault, stipendiary steward, demonstrated on the videos that just prior to turning for home the defendant gave LOOSE CANNON one or two strikes with the whip. (We accept the video is not clear in that LOOSE CANNON is partially obscured.) There is a further strike with the whip on the shaft of the sulky about 200 metres from the winning post. The whip is not then used again till some 50 to 70 metres from the line. Mr Renault said that for approximately 150 metres the defendant was sitting motionless and that his actions were non-existent until the final stages of the race.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Ydgren submitted that it was reasonable to expect the defendant to take some action to keep the horse going, such as urging with the reins, running the reins through the tail of the horse, or striking the shaft of the sulky. He said the absence of such actions was of concern to him and this was why he believed the defendant was in breach of r 868(3).
Mr Patterson submitted he was urging his horse all the way up the straight. He said he hit LOOSE CANNON twice prior to turning for home to give it a reminder. He said he hit the shaft of the sulky early in the run home and then hit the horse near the finish of the race. He said he was always driving his horse out and that during the rest of the run home he was yelling at the horse, which he emphasised was “green”. This was only LOOSE CANNON’s second start. He said he believed the horse was responding to his yelling. He said he had used the whip on the horse in workouts and his experience was that it did not respond to its use. He reiterated he believed he was getting the best out of the horse. He emphasised that LOOSE CANNON had made ground all the way up the straight and there was no further response when he used the whip over the final stages.
Reasons for Decision:
The prosecution must prove the charge to standard of on the balance of probabilities; in this case, that the defendant was not driving his horse out to the end of the race. The defendant is adamant that he was. The striking of the shaft of the sulky and the use of the whip (we count 3 strikes) in the final stages support his contention.
The key issue is the 120 to 150 metres where Mr Patteson was just yelling at the horse. We are concerned that there are no obvious attempts to urge the horse with the reins at this time. However, in the defendant’s favour, and what ultimately leads us to dismiss the charge, is that LOOSE CANNON was making ground from mid-field all the way up the straight. In particular, we note from the official result sheet that the last half was in 58.3 and final 400 in 28.5. These are very good sectionals for this grade of horse. In addition, when the defendant uses the whip on LOOSE CANNON in the final stage of the race, there is no immediate or further response from the horse. It does not quicken markedly or suddenly surge past the horses on its inside.
We thus accept Mr Patterson’s submission that LOOSE CANNON was giving of its best. However, we understand Mr Ydgren’s concern, and emphasise that the defendant should not leave it open to question as to whether he is complying the Rules. We draw to his attention the fact that some urging with the reins would have removed all doubt that he was not driving LOOSE CANNON out to the finish of 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: 61d2b056b79c3bf37994937cdb665ef6
informantnumber: 69514
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 0
decisiondate: 18/09/2011
hearing_title: Oamaru HRC 18 September 2011 - R 3
charge:
Mr Ydgren alleged that Mr Patterson failed to drive out his horse LOOSE CANNON over the final stages to an acceptable standard.
facts:
LOOSE CANNON finished 2nd. The margin between 1st and 2nd was a neck.
Mr Renault, stipendiary steward, demonstrated on the videos that just prior to turning for home the defendant gave LOOSE CANNON one or two strikes with the whip. (We accept the video is not clear in that LOOSE CANNON is partially obscured.) There is a further strike with the whip on the shaft of the sulky about 200 metres from the winning post. The whip is not then used again till some 50 to 70 metres from the line. Mr Renault said that for approximately 150 metres the defendant was sitting motionless and that his actions were non-existent until the final stages of the race.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Ydgren submitted that it was reasonable to expect the defendant to take some action to keep the horse going, such as urging with the reins, running the reins through the tail of the horse, or striking the shaft of the sulky. He said the absence of such actions was of concern to him and this was why he believed the defendant was in breach of r 868(3).
Mr Patterson submitted he was urging his horse all the way up the straight. He said he hit LOOSE CANNON twice prior to turning for home to give it a reminder. He said he hit the shaft of the sulky early in the run home and then hit the horse near the finish of the race. He said he was always driving his horse out and that during the rest of the run home he was yelling at the horse, which he emphasised was “green”. This was only LOOSE CANNON’s second start. He said he believed the horse was responding to his yelling. He said he had used the whip on the horse in workouts and his experience was that it did not respond to its use. He reiterated he believed he was getting the best out of the horse. He emphasised that LOOSE CANNON had made ground all the way up the straight and there was no further response when he used the whip over the final stages.
reasonsfordecision:
The prosecution must prove the charge to standard of on the balance of probabilities; in this case, that the defendant was not driving his horse out to the end of the race. The defendant is adamant that he was. The striking of the shaft of the sulky and the use of the whip (we count 3 strikes) in the final stages support his contention.
The key issue is the 120 to 150 metres where Mr Patteson was just yelling at the horse. We are concerned that there are no obvious attempts to urge the horse with the reins at this time. However, in the defendant’s favour, and what ultimately leads us to dismiss the charge, is that LOOSE CANNON was making ground from mid-field all the way up the straight. In particular, we note from the official result sheet that the last half was in 58.3 and final 400 in 28.5. These are very good sectionals for this grade of horse. In addition, when the defendant uses the whip on LOOSE CANNON in the final stage of the race, there is no immediate or further response from the horse. It does not quicken markedly or suddenly surge past the horses on its inside.
We thus accept Mr Patterson’s submission that LOOSE CANNON was giving of its best. However, we understand Mr Ydgren’s concern, and emphasise that the defendant should not leave it open to question as to whether he is complying the Rules. We draw to his attention the fact that some urging with the reins would have removed all doubt that he was not driving LOOSE CANNON out to the finish of the race.
Decision:
The charge is dismissed.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 868(3)
Informant: Mr N Ydgren - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr J Patterson - Licensed Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 4be5bc6edb33503ac0855adb0c131ce9
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: d48b4c685eb6b861ca8240eb746bb455
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 18/09/2011
meet_title: Oamaru HRC - 18 September 2011
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: oamaru-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: DSteel
meet_pm2: none
name: Oamaru HRC