Westport TC 28 December 2017 – R 2 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA13496
Meet Title:
Westport TC - 28 December 2017
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
GClapp
Race Date:
2017/12/28
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
The charge was dismissed.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 2, Bernie Stewart Memorial Trot, an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr SP Renault, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr BN Orange, alleging that, as the driver of MILLIONDOLLARMONKEY in the race, he “used his whip when he was out of contention for either a stake or dividend bearing place”.
Mr Orange had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that he admitted the breach. However, when he was asked to confirm this at the hearing and, after a brief discussion, the Committee granted him leave to change his plea to the charge.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulation made by the Board.
The Use of the Whip Regulation provide:
(d) No horseman shall apply the whip to a runner which is out of contention for either a stake or dividend bearing place or on any horse which is not responding or unable to hold its position in the race.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Renault showed a video replay of the race as the field approached the home turn. He pointed out Mr Orange driving MILLIONDOLLARMONKEY racing outside the leader. Near the 400 metres, the horse trotted roughly and went into a break. Mr Orange then drew the horse wide on the track. The horse then settled back into a trot and Mr Orange struck it once with the whip, Mr Renault said.
Mr Renault read the relevant part of the Regulation (see above). He said that the Stewards’ concern in this case was that Mr Orange was frustrated with the horse.
Mr Orange said that he understood the Regulation. However, he said, his horse was easily going to run 2nd, if not test the winner, before it galloped for no reason. The horse had been untested up to that stage of the race, he said. The horse had then run wide and, after it settled back into a trot, he gave it one strike to straighten it up and get it going again. He emphasised that the horse was back trotting when he struck it. He could not see any harm in his trying his horse once with the whip to see what it had left. The horse just “whacked away” thereafter, he said.
Reasons for Decision:
Mr Orange has been charged with using his whip on a runner when out of contention for a dividend or stake bearing place.
He had indicated on the information form that he admitted the breach but, when asked to confirm this at the hearing, he said that, while he admitted that he struck his horse once with the whip, he did not believe it was a “chargeable offence”. At the Committee’s suggestion, Mr Orange changed his plea and denied the breach.
We then proceeded to view the video replays. We observed that Mr Orange, driving MILLIONDOLLARMONKEY, was racing outside the leader as the field approached the home turn. According to Mr Orange, his horse was travelling well and he was confident of its running at least 2nd, if not winning.
The horse then went off-stride at approximately the 400 metres and ran wide on the track. It was at this point that Mr Orange struck the horse once with his whip but, he pointed out, only after the horse had regained its correct gait. This is an important fact. He explained that he did not consider the horse to be out of contention at that stage. He said that it had not been tested up to that point and he had given it one hit to get it going again and to see whether it had anything to give.
Having considered the submissions of the parties and the video evidence, the Committee is satisfied that Mr Orange’s actions were not unreasonable in the circumstances. It was reasonable in the circumstances to test the horse once with the whip. Mr Orange’s belief that the horse was not out of contention was a reasonable belief in our view and we are not satisfied that his actions in using the whip as he did were culpable and we are therefore dismissing the charge.
Decision Date: 01/01/2018
Publish Date: 01/01/2018
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: 3e0b42306d84d1c95048575e9645a2ab
informantnumber: A09636
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Whip on Runner Out Of Contention
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 0
decisiondate: 01/01/2018
hearing_title: Westport TC 28 December 2017 - R 2 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 2, Bernie Stewart Memorial Trot, an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr SP Renault, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr BN Orange, alleging that, as the driver of MILLIONDOLLARMONKEY in the race, he “used his whip when he was out of contention for either a stake or dividend bearing place”.
Mr Orange had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that he admitted the breach. However, when he was asked to confirm this at the hearing and, after a brief discussion, the Committee granted him leave to change his plea to the charge.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulation made by the Board.
The Use of the Whip Regulation provide:
(d) No horseman shall apply the whip to a runner which is out of contention for either a stake or dividend bearing place or on any horse which is not responding or unable to hold its position in the race.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Renault showed a video replay of the race as the field approached the home turn. He pointed out Mr Orange driving MILLIONDOLLARMONKEY racing outside the leader. Near the 400 metres, the horse trotted roughly and went into a break. Mr Orange then drew the horse wide on the track. The horse then settled back into a trot and Mr Orange struck it once with the whip, Mr Renault said.
Mr Renault read the relevant part of the Regulation (see above). He said that the Stewards’ concern in this case was that Mr Orange was frustrated with the horse.
Mr Orange said that he understood the Regulation. However, he said, his horse was easily going to run 2nd, if not test the winner, before it galloped for no reason. The horse had been untested up to that stage of the race, he said. The horse had then run wide and, after it settled back into a trot, he gave it one strike to straighten it up and get it going again. He emphasised that the horse was back trotting when he struck it. He could not see any harm in his trying his horse once with the whip to see what it had left. The horse just “whacked away” thereafter, he said.
reasonsfordecision:
Mr Orange has been charged with using his whip on a runner when out of contention for a dividend or stake bearing place.
He had indicated on the information form that he admitted the breach but, when asked to confirm this at the hearing, he said that, while he admitted that he struck his horse once with the whip, he did not believe it was a “chargeable offence”. At the Committee’s suggestion, Mr Orange changed his plea and denied the breach.
We then proceeded to view the video replays. We observed that Mr Orange, driving MILLIONDOLLARMONKEY, was racing outside the leader as the field approached the home turn. According to Mr Orange, his horse was travelling well and he was confident of its running at least 2nd, if not winning.
The horse then went off-stride at approximately the 400 metres and ran wide on the track. It was at this point that Mr Orange struck the horse once with his whip but, he pointed out, only after the horse had regained its correct gait. This is an important fact. He explained that he did not consider the horse to be out of contention at that stage. He said that it had not been tested up to that point and he had given it one hit to get it going again and to see whether it had anything to give.
Having considered the submissions of the parties and the video evidence, the Committee is satisfied that Mr Orange’s actions were not unreasonable in the circumstances. It was reasonable in the circumstances to test the horse once with the whip. Mr Orange’s belief that the horse was not out of contention was a reasonable belief in our view and we are not satisfied that his actions in using the whip as he did were culpable and we are therefore dismissing the charge.
Decision:
The charge was dismissed.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2) & Use of the Whip Regulation
Informant: Mr SP Renault - Stipendiay Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr BN Orange- Licensed Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 663997c8b9ded1572842211a8fae3acb
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 1dd5181695f59b2d955ba3412a3c358f
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 28/12/2017
meet_title: Westport TC - 28 December 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: westport-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: GClapp
meet_pm2: none
name: Westport TC