HR Waikato 21 July 2016 – R 1 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA13565
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 21 July 2016
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Race Date:
2016/07/21
Race Number:
R1
Decision:
As Mr Cronin has admitted the breach we find the charge proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly we impose a fine of $300 on Mr Cronin.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 1, the TE RAPA WHOLESALE CARS AMATEUR DRIVERS MOBILE PACE, an Information was laid by Mr Muirhead alleging that 'Advanced Amateur Driver Mr G Cronin ( LOLA JONES ) drove carelessly by shifting his mare inwards entering the first turn when not clear which resulted in THATSHOWIE ROLL (driven by Mr K Judson) being tightened down onto SHANTAHLIA KNIGHT (driven by Mr J Brownlee) which contacted pylons.
Mr Cronin was present at the hearing and aknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the breach. He was assisted at the hearing by Open Horseman ,Mr J Abernethy.
Rule 869(3)(b) provides that ' No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly'.
Using the available films Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident which took place as the field left the first turn out of the straight following the start. He identified LOLA JONES, driven by Mr Cronin who had been eased out of the starting barrier to a position 3 wide near the rear of the field. He said Mr Cronin was looking to take a position closer to the marker pegs, however there was insufficient room inside him to do that. THATSHOWIE ROLL, driven by Mr Judson was inside LOLA JONES and slightly behind that horse. Mr Muirhead demonstrated that Mr Cronin attempted to shift inwards ahead of THATSHOWIE ROLL which caused inconvenience to that horse as its front legs were inside LOLA JONES' sulky. Mr Muirhead told the hearing that Mr Judson had informed the Stewards after the race that he had been calling out to Mr Cronin that he was placing him in an unenviable position. As a result of the pressure on him from Mr Cronin, Mr Judson was forced to move inwards towards SHANTAHLIA KNIGHT, driven by Mr Brownlee, in turn forcing Mr Brownlee to take evasive action by moving inwards also. In doing so, SHANTAHLIA KNIGHT had run over several marker pylons. As a result of Mr Cronin's driving Mr Judson had allowed his drive THATSHOWIE ROLL to drop back and lose it's position.
Mr Cronin said that he had seen the gap inside him and thought he could move into it ahead of THATSHOWIE ROLL without causing any interference to that horse.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead produced Mr Cronin's driving record which showed no breaches of this Rule in the past 12 months. He stated that while the Stewards did not believe Mr Cronin caused interference intentionally to THATSHOWIE ROLL, they did consider his actions to be above the medium level on the scale of carelessness. He added that the Stewards believed the effect of Mr Cronin's driving was at the high end on the scale.
Mr Muirhead referred to the JCA Penalty Guide which provides a starting point of a fine of $500 or a 10 drive suspension. Mr Muirhead stated that he considered a fine would be an appropriate penalty.
Mr Cronin told the hearing that this breach was as a result of a mistake on his part, and that it was the first time he had breached this Rule. He asked that the Committee show consistency when applying a penalty on him and said that he believed a $500 fine was ' too much'.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee took notice of the submissions of the parties involved. We accept that Mr Cronin has admitted the breach, and that he has a clear record under this Rule. However, as a result of his actions 2 other drivers were affected to varying degrees when he attempted to manoeuvre his horse inwards when there was insufficient room.
We agree with Mr Muirhead that the impact of Mr Cronin's actions were towards the high end of the scale. Adopting the JCA Penalty Guide starting point of a fine of $500, and finding that other drivers had been fined $300 in similar circumstances, we believed that a fine of that amount would appropriate.
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: 4690595759d5f292aa062a9126e557c2
informantnumber: A3734
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 23/07/2016
hearing_title: HR Waikato 21 July 2016 - R 1 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 1, the TE RAPA WHOLESALE CARS AMATEUR DRIVERS MOBILE PACE, an Information was laid by Mr Muirhead alleging that 'Advanced Amateur Driver Mr G Cronin ( LOLA JONES ) drove carelessly by shifting his mare inwards entering the first turn when not clear which resulted in THATSHOWIE ROLL (driven by Mr K Judson) being tightened down onto SHANTAHLIA KNIGHT (driven by Mr J Brownlee) which contacted pylons.
Mr Cronin was present at the hearing and aknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the breach. He was assisted at the hearing by Open Horseman ,Mr J Abernethy.
Rule 869(3)(b) provides that ' No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly'.
Using the available films Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident which took place as the field left the first turn out of the straight following the start. He identified LOLA JONES, driven by Mr Cronin who had been eased out of the starting barrier to a position 3 wide near the rear of the field. He said Mr Cronin was looking to take a position closer to the marker pegs, however there was insufficient room inside him to do that. THATSHOWIE ROLL, driven by Mr Judson was inside LOLA JONES and slightly behind that horse. Mr Muirhead demonstrated that Mr Cronin attempted to shift inwards ahead of THATSHOWIE ROLL which caused inconvenience to that horse as its front legs were inside LOLA JONES' sulky. Mr Muirhead told the hearing that Mr Judson had informed the Stewards after the race that he had been calling out to Mr Cronin that he was placing him in an unenviable position. As a result of the pressure on him from Mr Cronin, Mr Judson was forced to move inwards towards SHANTAHLIA KNIGHT, driven by Mr Brownlee, in turn forcing Mr Brownlee to take evasive action by moving inwards also. In doing so, SHANTAHLIA KNIGHT had run over several marker pylons. As a result of Mr Cronin's driving Mr Judson had allowed his drive THATSHOWIE ROLL to drop back and lose it's position.
Mr Cronin said that he had seen the gap inside him and thought he could move into it ahead of THATSHOWIE ROLL without causing any interference to that horse.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Cronin has admitted the breach we find the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead produced Mr Cronin's driving record which showed no breaches of this Rule in the past 12 months. He stated that while the Stewards did not believe Mr Cronin caused interference intentionally to THATSHOWIE ROLL, they did consider his actions to be above the medium level on the scale of carelessness. He added that the Stewards believed the effect of Mr Cronin's driving was at the high end on the scale.
Mr Muirhead referred to the JCA Penalty Guide which provides a starting point of a fine of $500 or a 10 drive suspension. Mr Muirhead stated that he considered a fine would be an appropriate penalty.
Mr Cronin told the hearing that this breach was as a result of a mistake on his part, and that it was the first time he had breached this Rule. He asked that the Committee show consistency when applying a penalty on him and said that he believed a $500 fine was ' too much'.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee took notice of the submissions of the parties involved. We accept that Mr Cronin has admitted the breach, and that he has a clear record under this Rule. However, as a result of his actions 2 other drivers were affected to varying degrees when he attempted to manoeuvre his horse inwards when there was insufficient room.
We agree with Mr Muirhead that the impact of Mr Cronin's actions were towards the high end of the scale. Adopting the JCA Penalty Guide starting point of a fine of $500, and finding that other drivers had been fined $300 in similar circumstances, we believed that a fine of that amount would appropriate.
penalty:
Accordingly we impose a fine of $300 on Mr Cronin.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(3)b)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead-Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr G Cronin-Advanced Amateur Driver
Otherperson: Mr J Abernethy-Open Horseman assisting Mr Cronin
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 85e5da637c1878f3cfb7925fc9d355d3
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R1
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
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meetid: ac1c42d501bae8ce2c14f2cd74f8ec63
meet_expapproval:
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waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 21/07/2016
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 21 July 2016
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: ADooley
meet_pm2: none
name: Harness Racing Waikato