Marlborough RC 29 April 2016 – R 8 – Chair, Mr P Williams
ID: JCA13434
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Marlborough RC - 29 April 2016
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
GClapp
Race Date:
2016/04/29
Race Number:
R8
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of race 8, the “Speight’s & PGGWrightson Rating 65 1950m”, Information A6378 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr Davidson under Rule 648(5)(a). The information stated “J Lowry weighed in .6kg in excess of his weigh out weight”. Mr Lowry signed the Information admitting the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed that was correct and also that he understood the Rule under which he was charged. He was assisted during the hearing by licensed jockey Mr T Moseley.
Rule 648(5)(a) states “If the Rider of a horse weighs in at a weight of 0.5kg or more in excess of that at which he weighed out that Rider…….commits a breach of these Rules”.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Davidson said Mr Lowry rode “Fascinate Me” in Race 8. He said the carded weight for the horse was 54kg but Stewards were aware that Mr Lowry’s lowest riding weight was 54.5kg and even though he is a 2kg claiming Apprentice there was no expectation by the Stewards that Mr Lowry would ride at less than 54.5 kgs in the race. Mr Davidson produced the race book used by the Clerk of the Scales – Mr Rangi – to show that he recorded Mr Lowry’s weigh out weight at 55.9kgs or 1.9kgs above the carded weight for “Fascinate Me”. He said the 1.9kg was made up of 1 kg for Mr Lowry’s safety vest and 0.9kg because Mr Lowry was unable to make the carded weight of 54kg. Mr Davidson said that on his return to scale Mr Lowry weighed in at 56.5kg which meant he was point 0.6kg over his weigh out weight. Again Mr Rangi’s notes were shown to Committee to confirm that was the case.
Mr Lowry did not dispute the facts as presented by Davidson. He said it had been a busy period for him which had not helped him control his weight and after weighing out for the last race, and before his saddle and gear was given to the trainer, he had a drink of water and also replaced a pad that he was carrying when weighing out.
Mr Moseley said he thought the drink of water was the main contributor to the breach of the Rule occurring. He said that Mr Lowry had ridden at Wingatui on Wednesday and had a sauna in Christchurch the day before races but had not had time to have one today. He said the effect of driving from Dunedin to Blenheim had not helped Mr Lowry’s weight issue but conceded Mr Lowry was wrong to change the pad. He said Mr Lowry didn’t appreciate the seriousness of his actions and incorrectly assumed there would be no impact on his riding weight.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Davidson said Mr Lowry had not breached the Rule previously, had readily admitted the breach and was known as an Apprentice who struggles with his weight at times. He noted the JCA’s Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $500 fine but he did not specify what he thought the penalty should be.
Mr Lowry had no comments to make on penalty.
Mr Moseley asked the Committee to take into account this was Mr Lowry’s first breach of the Rule which he had readily admitted. He said he was sure it would be a wake-up call for Mr Lowry but conceded that “cheating the scales” was unacceptable.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has considered all the submissions made. Whilst accepting Mr Lowry does struggle with his weight there can be no defense to deliberately replacing a piece of gear after weighing out. It wasn’t made clear how much water was drunk by Mr Lowry but the clear inference is that he decided to change a pad for one which he thought was lighter to compensate for the water he drunk. Clearly he either drunk more water than he thought or the replacement pad was in fact heavier than the one he weighed out with. Either way he attempted to cheat the scales and that behavior cannot be tolerated and adversely impacts on the integrity of the industry. The Committee, whilst noting Mr Lowry is an Apprentice Jockey, does not believe that it is a mitigating factor when considering the penalty that will be apply.
The Committee notes that the starting point for a breach of the Rule is a fine of $500. The Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty and Mr Lowry’s clear record in relation to this Rule and his admission of the breach justify a reduction from the starting point above. However, we believe the reduction should not be a significant one given the deliberate intent to cheat the scales and that the penalty should be one that acts as a deterrent to any others who may think about doing the same in the future.
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: 36a52f7abe6c2ce23ceb0ad16237b282
informantnumber: A6378
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Weighed in in excess of weighed out weight
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 03/05/2016
hearing_title: Marlborough RC 29 April 2016 - R 8 - Chair, Mr P Williams
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 8, the “Speight’s & PGGWrightson Rating 65 1950m”, Information A6378 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr Davidson under Rule 648(5)(a). The information stated “J Lowry weighed in .6kg in excess of his weigh out weight”. Mr Lowry signed the Information admitting the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed that was correct and also that he understood the Rule under which he was charged. He was assisted during the hearing by licensed jockey Mr T Moseley.
Rule 648(5)(a) states “If the Rider of a horse weighs in at a weight of 0.5kg or more in excess of that at which he weighed out that Rider…….commits a breach of these Rules”.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Davidson said Mr Lowry rode “Fascinate Me” in Race 8. He said the carded weight for the horse was 54kg but Stewards were aware that Mr Lowry’s lowest riding weight was 54.5kg and even though he is a 2kg claiming Apprentice there was no expectation by the Stewards that Mr Lowry would ride at less than 54.5 kgs in the race. Mr Davidson produced the race book used by the Clerk of the Scales – Mr Rangi – to show that he recorded Mr Lowry’s weigh out weight at 55.9kgs or 1.9kgs above the carded weight for “Fascinate Me”. He said the 1.9kg was made up of 1 kg for Mr Lowry’s safety vest and 0.9kg because Mr Lowry was unable to make the carded weight of 54kg. Mr Davidson said that on his return to scale Mr Lowry weighed in at 56.5kg which meant he was point 0.6kg over his weigh out weight. Again Mr Rangi’s notes were shown to Committee to confirm that was the case.
Mr Lowry did not dispute the facts as presented by Davidson. He said it had been a busy period for him which had not helped him control his weight and after weighing out for the last race, and before his saddle and gear was given to the trainer, he had a drink of water and also replaced a pad that he was carrying when weighing out.
Mr Moseley said he thought the drink of water was the main contributor to the breach of the Rule occurring. He said that Mr Lowry had ridden at Wingatui on Wednesday and had a sauna in Christchurch the day before races but had not had time to have one today. He said the effect of driving from Dunedin to Blenheim had not helped Mr Lowry’s weight issue but conceded Mr Lowry was wrong to change the pad. He said Mr Lowry didn’t appreciate the seriousness of his actions and incorrectly assumed there would be no impact on his riding weight.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Davidson said Mr Lowry had not breached the Rule previously, had readily admitted the breach and was known as an Apprentice who struggles with his weight at times. He noted the JCA’s Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $500 fine but he did not specify what he thought the penalty should be.
Mr Lowry had no comments to make on penalty.
Mr Moseley asked the Committee to take into account this was Mr Lowry’s first breach of the Rule which he had readily admitted. He said he was sure it would be a wake-up call for Mr Lowry but conceded that “cheating the scales” was unacceptable.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has considered all the submissions made. Whilst accepting Mr Lowry does struggle with his weight there can be no defense to deliberately replacing a piece of gear after weighing out. It wasn’t made clear how much water was drunk by Mr Lowry but the clear inference is that he decided to change a pad for one which he thought was lighter to compensate for the water he drunk. Clearly he either drunk more water than he thought or the replacement pad was in fact heavier than the one he weighed out with. Either way he attempted to cheat the scales and that behavior cannot be tolerated and adversely impacts on the integrity of the industry. The Committee, whilst noting Mr Lowry is an Apprentice Jockey, does not believe that it is a mitigating factor when considering the penalty that will be apply.
The Committee notes that the starting point for a breach of the Rule is a fine of $500. The Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty and Mr Lowry’s clear record in relation to this Rule and his admission of the breach justify a reduction from the starting point above. However, we believe the reduction should not be a significant one given the deliberate intent to cheat the scales and that the penalty should be one that acts as a deterrent to any others who may think about doing the same in the future.
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 648(5)
Informant: Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr J Lowry - Apprentice Jockey
Otherperson: Mr T Moseley - Jockey
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: f4700a13cf1091f8b7899628331d370d
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R8
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 90a37b8df200035b41512ab5687bedf0
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 29/04/2016
meet_title: Marlborough RC - 29 April 2016
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: marlborough-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: GClapp
meet_pm2: none
name: Marlborough RC