NZ Metro TC 16 November 2018 – R 4 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA13635
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 16 November 2018
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
DAnderson
Race Date:
2018/11/16
Race Number:
R4
Decision:
Ms Young having admitted the charge, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Ms Young’s Open Driver’s licence is suspended for a period commencing from after the close of racing today up to and including 24 November 2018 – 2 days. The meetings intended to be encompassed by the period of suspension are Invercargill HRC on 23 November and Geraldine TC on 24 November.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 4, G.K. Fyfe Painting Handicap Trot, an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr N M Ydgren, against Licensed Open Driver, Ms J J A Young, alleging that Ms Young, as the driver of SUNDONS FLYER in the race, “drove carelessly when allowing her drive to contact the sulky wheel of McLOVIN (A L Lethaby) which sustained a flat tyre near the 1400 metres”.
Ms Young had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that she admitted the breach. She was present at the hearing of the information and she confirmed that she admitted the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(3) No horseman in any race shall drive-
(b) carelessly.
Mr Ydgren showed video replays of the incident as the field raced down the home straight with approximately 1400 metres to run. He pointed out SUNDONS FLYER, driven by Ms Young, racing four places back on the markers, trailing McLOVIN, driven by Mrs Lethaby. Mrs Lethaby reported to the Stewards post-race that she had sustained a punctured sulky tyre with 1400 metres to run when the trailing horse, SUNDONS FLYER, had struck her wheel, Mr Ydgren said.
Mr Ydgren pointed out on the video replay that Mrs Lethaby had looked down and to her left and had shaken her head. The contact was not visible on any of the replays, Mr Ydgren said. Prior to the incident, the head of SUNDONS FLYER could be seen to be over Mrs Lethaby’s left shoulder, directly in line with Mrs Lethaby’s inside sulky wheel, he said.
Ms Young accepted that contact had been made, but said that she was not aware of it at the time. She explained that SUNDONS FLYER is inclined to “get on the nickel” so the trainer had asked her to “trail right up”, rather than hold onto the mare, so that she does not choke down. It had worked for the horse on the first day of the meeting so she had planned to do the same thing in today’s race. The reason for trailing over Mrs Lethaby’s left shoulder was that the mare runs out in the straight. She submitted that the contact with the sulky wheel of McLOVIN must have been very slight.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Ydgren told the Committee that Ms Young had a previous breach for careless driving at Motukarara on 19 October last for which she received a 2-days suspension for shifting out causing interference. That was 14 drives ago, he said.
Mr Ydgren said that the Penalty Guide starting point for a second breach within 6 months is a 3-day suspension. However, the Penalty Guide prescribes a starting point for hitting a wheel of a 6-drives suspension or a $300 fine. This incident was a minor one which would normally have attracted a fine, he said. However, for a second breach, Stewards considered that a suspension of 3 days was appropriate.
Ms Young said that the previous charge involved her tightening another runner which was not travelling well. It had been forced onto the runner outside it and galloped. Prior to that, her record was good she submitted. She submitted that the present breach was quite minor in comparison.
Ms Young told the Committee that she was taking two horses to the Invercargill meeting to race on 23 November for trainer, Mr Negus, but she elected not to seek a deferment.
Reasons for Penalty:
After considering the circumstances of this case, the Committee decided, for the purposes of penalty, to treat it as a case of hitting a wheel for which the Penalty Guide provides a different starting point – 6 drives or a $300 fine. In arriving at that decision, the Committee has taken into account that the breach is a very low-end one where a lot of fault cannot be attached to Ms Young.
Having said that however, a suspension rather than a fine is required. So, taking the Penalty Guide starting point of six drives, we uplift that by two drives to eight drives for the previous breach, even though, the Committee accepts that the previous breach did not involve hitting a wheel. From that adjusted starting point of eight drives, the Committee gives a discount for Ms Young’s admission of the breach, which we fix at two drives.
On the basis that Ms Young has told us that she is foregoing two drives at Invercargill on 23 November and on the basis that she is likely to have, say, four drives at Geraldine the following day, we have decided that a 2-days suspension is an appropriate penalty.
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: 514ddedcad806439a76a1301ffc4f2bb
informantnumber: A12418
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 19/11/2018
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 16 November 2018 - R 4 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 4, G.K. Fyfe Painting Handicap Trot, an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr N M Ydgren, against Licensed Open Driver, Ms J J A Young, alleging that Ms Young, as the driver of SUNDONS FLYER in the race, “drove carelessly when allowing her drive to contact the sulky wheel of McLOVIN (A L Lethaby) which sustained a flat tyre near the 1400 metres”.
Ms Young had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that she admitted the breach. She was present at the hearing of the information and she confirmed that she admitted the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(3) No horseman in any race shall drive-
(b) carelessly.
Mr Ydgren showed video replays of the incident as the field raced down the home straight with approximately 1400 metres to run. He pointed out SUNDONS FLYER, driven by Ms Young, racing four places back on the markers, trailing McLOVIN, driven by Mrs Lethaby. Mrs Lethaby reported to the Stewards post-race that she had sustained a punctured sulky tyre with 1400 metres to run when the trailing horse, SUNDONS FLYER, had struck her wheel, Mr Ydgren said.
Mr Ydgren pointed out on the video replay that Mrs Lethaby had looked down and to her left and had shaken her head. The contact was not visible on any of the replays, Mr Ydgren said. Prior to the incident, the head of SUNDONS FLYER could be seen to be over Mrs Lethaby’s left shoulder, directly in line with Mrs Lethaby’s inside sulky wheel, he said.
Ms Young accepted that contact had been made, but said that she was not aware of it at the time. She explained that SUNDONS FLYER is inclined to “get on the nickel” so the trainer had asked her to “trail right up”, rather than hold onto the mare, so that she does not choke down. It had worked for the horse on the first day of the meeting so she had planned to do the same thing in today’s race. The reason for trailing over Mrs Lethaby’s left shoulder was that the mare runs out in the straight. She submitted that the contact with the sulky wheel of McLOVIN must have been very slight.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Ms Young having admitted the charge, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Ydgren told the Committee that Ms Young had a previous breach for careless driving at Motukarara on 19 October last for which she received a 2-days suspension for shifting out causing interference. That was 14 drives ago, he said.
Mr Ydgren said that the Penalty Guide starting point for a second breach within 6 months is a 3-day suspension. However, the Penalty Guide prescribes a starting point for hitting a wheel of a 6-drives suspension or a $300 fine. This incident was a minor one which would normally have attracted a fine, he said. However, for a second breach, Stewards considered that a suspension of 3 days was appropriate.
Ms Young said that the previous charge involved her tightening another runner which was not travelling well. It had been forced onto the runner outside it and galloped. Prior to that, her record was good she submitted. She submitted that the present breach was quite minor in comparison.
Ms Young told the Committee that she was taking two horses to the Invercargill meeting to race on 23 November for trainer, Mr Negus, but she elected not to seek a deferment.
reasonsforpenalty:
After considering the circumstances of this case, the Committee decided, for the purposes of penalty, to treat it as a case of hitting a wheel for which the Penalty Guide provides a different starting point – 6 drives or a $300 fine. In arriving at that decision, the Committee has taken into account that the breach is a very low-end one where a lot of fault cannot be attached to Ms Young.
Having said that however, a suspension rather than a fine is required. So, taking the Penalty Guide starting point of six drives, we uplift that by two drives to eight drives for the previous breach, even though, the Committee accepts that the previous breach did not involve hitting a wheel. From that adjusted starting point of eight drives, the Committee gives a discount for Ms Young’s admission of the breach, which we fix at two drives.
On the basis that Ms Young has told us that she is foregoing two drives at Invercargill on 23 November and on the basis that she is likely to have, say, four drives at Geraldine the following day, we have decided that a 2-days suspension is an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
Ms Young’s Open Driver’s licence is suspended for a period commencing from after the close of racing today up to and including 24 November 2018 – 2 days. The meetings intended to be encompassed by the period of suspension are Invercargill HRC on 23 November and Geraldine TC on 24 November.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: N M Ydgren, Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: J J A Young, Licensed Open Driver
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 3aa34f57b8d2930b190d686df693f0f0
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R4
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 3acc574dcbb3ba23f28020b967345cf0
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 16/11/2018
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 16 November 2018
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nz-metro-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: DAnderson
meet_pm2: none
name: NZ Metro TC