Taranaki TC 19 March 2015 – R 7
ID: JCA13422
Meet Title:
Taranaki TC - 19 March 2015
Meet Chair:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2015/03/19
Race Number:
R 7
Decision:
Due to the committee’s finding the careless driving charge preferred against Mr D Ferguson was dismissed.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 7 (The New Plymouth Auctions Mobile Pace) Information No. A7456 was filed with the Judicial Committee. The Information read that Mr D Ferguson drove SAGE CREEK carelessly by shifting inward rounding the final turn into the home straight contacting the front legs of ARCANO (A Drake) which broke and resulted in interference to BRANDY (P Ferguson) and JACK BATES (D Butcher).
Rule 869(3) (b) reads:
No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly.
Mr Ferguson acknowledged that he understood the rule, the charge and confirmed that he did not admit the breach.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Mulcay invited Mr Muirhead to show all films. In conjunction with the films being played Mr Muirhead identified all the horses concerned and said that Mr Drake had shifted his horse out to a 4-wide position across the top bend with Mr D Ferguson and his horse SAGE CREEK racing 5-wide on his outside. He said that as they rounded the bend Mr Ferguson allowed his horse to shift in resulting in Mr Drake’s horse ARCANO making contact with the inside wheel of SAGE CREEK’s sulky and breaking, with BRANDY and JACK BATES suffering interference as a consequence. Mr Drake the driver of ARCANO said that around the bend he shifted out from behind Mr Mangos’ drive to a 4-wide position, he said that he then had Mr D Ferguson on his outside, he said that after he shifted out that Mr Ferguson lay on him and as they came around the bend he hit the inside wheel of SAGE CREEK’s sulky, blundered and nearly fell. He added that at the time his horse was travelling good. He said that around the top bend his outside wheel and Mr D Ferguson’s inside wheel came into contact.
In answer to a question from Mr P Ferguson Mr Drake said there was a change of positions to his inside before the interference but that the most pressure was from Mr Ferguson’s horse and that he was trying to pull back out of the tight situation prior to his horse galloping. Mr Ferguson put it to Mr Drake that the pressure came from the inside as his horse’s head was turned outwards towards SAGE CREEK prior to and at the time that he struck a wheel. Mr Drake responded that that was not correct as all he was doing was pulling back as Dylan (Ferguson) was all over him. Mr Brown, assisting Mr Drake, said that Mr Drake pulled back because Mr Ferguson came across his line. Mr D Butcher the driver of JACK BATES said that across the top bend he moved into the position vacated by Mr Drake when he went 4-wide. He said things then started to get tight but that he was not sure what was going on as he pulled out of the way when it got tight.
Mr Mulcay said that the Stewards' case was that Mr D Ferguson, after shifting to a 4-wide position, had allowed his horse to shift down onto ARCANO when not clear. He said that he allowed his horse to shift down after the leading horse HERE’S SHIFTY driven by Mr Mangos had shifted in.
Mr Ferguson said that Mr Drake had not maintained his position on Mr Mangos’ back and that he was not in a position to come out across the top bend. He said that the horses on the inside had exaggerated the situation. He said that Mr Butcher had gone into a very small gap which the drivers all do but that then Mr Drake could not get out. He said that initially Mr Drake pushed Mr Ferguson out.
Reasons for Decision:
The committee after careful consideration of all the evidence believed that whilst Mr D Ferguson did shift off-line that there was possibly other contributing factors from inside runners that resulted in the interference. Although this could not be clearly established due to the lack of a head-on film as the lead up to the interference occurred on a bend. The committee also noted that Mr Drake’s horse’s head was turned outwards at the time he contacted a wheel. This gave the impression that perhaps he was relieving pressure to his inside runners.
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: 34fd82ea9fe9f030169083adf94d6500
informantnumber: A7456
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 0
decisiondate: 20/03/2015
hearing_title: Taranaki TC 19 March 2015 - R 7
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 7 (The New Plymouth Auctions Mobile Pace) Information No. A7456 was filed with the Judicial Committee. The Information read that Mr D Ferguson drove SAGE CREEK carelessly by shifting inward rounding the final turn into the home straight contacting the front legs of ARCANO (A Drake) which broke and resulted in interference to BRANDY (P Ferguson) and JACK BATES (D Butcher).
Rule 869(3) (b) reads:
No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly.
Mr Ferguson acknowledged that he understood the rule, the charge and confirmed that he did not admit the breach.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Mulcay invited Mr Muirhead to show all films. In conjunction with the films being played Mr Muirhead identified all the horses concerned and said that Mr Drake had shifted his horse out to a 4-wide position across the top bend with Mr D Ferguson and his horse SAGE CREEK racing 5-wide on his outside. He said that as they rounded the bend Mr Ferguson allowed his horse to shift in resulting in Mr Drake’s horse ARCANO making contact with the inside wheel of SAGE CREEK’s sulky and breaking, with BRANDY and JACK BATES suffering interference as a consequence. Mr Drake the driver of ARCANO said that around the bend he shifted out from behind Mr Mangos’ drive to a 4-wide position, he said that he then had Mr D Ferguson on his outside, he said that after he shifted out that Mr Ferguson lay on him and as they came around the bend he hit the inside wheel of SAGE CREEK’s sulky, blundered and nearly fell. He added that at the time his horse was travelling good. He said that around the top bend his outside wheel and Mr D Ferguson’s inside wheel came into contact.
In answer to a question from Mr P Ferguson Mr Drake said there was a change of positions to his inside before the interference but that the most pressure was from Mr Ferguson’s horse and that he was trying to pull back out of the tight situation prior to his horse galloping. Mr Ferguson put it to Mr Drake that the pressure came from the inside as his horse’s head was turned outwards towards SAGE CREEK prior to and at the time that he struck a wheel. Mr Drake responded that that was not correct as all he was doing was pulling back as Dylan (Ferguson) was all over him. Mr Brown, assisting Mr Drake, said that Mr Drake pulled back because Mr Ferguson came across his line. Mr D Butcher the driver of JACK BATES said that across the top bend he moved into the position vacated by Mr Drake when he went 4-wide. He said things then started to get tight but that he was not sure what was going on as he pulled out of the way when it got tight.
Mr Mulcay said that the Stewards' case was that Mr D Ferguson, after shifting to a 4-wide position, had allowed his horse to shift down onto ARCANO when not clear. He said that he allowed his horse to shift down after the leading horse HERE’S SHIFTY driven by Mr Mangos had shifted in.
Mr Ferguson said that Mr Drake had not maintained his position on Mr Mangos’ back and that he was not in a position to come out across the top bend. He said that the horses on the inside had exaggerated the situation. He said that Mr Butcher had gone into a very small gap which the drivers all do but that then Mr Drake could not get out. He said that initially Mr Drake pushed Mr Ferguson out.
reasonsfordecision:
The committee after careful consideration of all the evidence believed that whilst Mr D Ferguson did shift off-line that there was possibly other contributing factors from inside runners that resulted in the interference. Although this could not be clearly established due to the lack of a head-on film as the lead up to the interference occurred on a bend. The committee also noted that Mr Drake’s horse’s head was turned outwards at the time he contacted a wheel. This gave the impression that perhaps he was relieving pressure to his inside runners.
Decision:
Due to the committee’s finding the careless driving charge preferred against Mr D Ferguson was dismissed.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr D Ferguson - Junior Horseman
Otherperson: Mr P Ferguson - assisting Mr D Ferguson, Mr A Drake - Driver of ARCNO and assisted by Mr A Brown, Mr D Butcher - Driver of JACK BATES, Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: bab396b7a446b446c1881de78d722df8
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
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race_chair:
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meetid: cc3d105ae4f5d33709c3f6a7b24075a1
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waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 19/03/2015
meet_title: Taranaki TC - 19 March 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
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tracklocation: taranaki-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm1: none
meet_pm2: none
name: Taranaki TC