Matamata RC 28 March 2018 – R 8 – Chair, Mr A Dooley
ID: JCA13867
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Matamata RC - 28 March 2018
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
BScott
Race Date:
2018/03/28
Race Number:
R8
Decision:
As Miss Sims admitted the breaches the Committee found the charges proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly, Miss Sims had her license to ride in races suspended for a period to commence after racing on 28 March and conclude after racing on 11 April 2018.
In addition Miss Sims was fined $500 for striking her mount once on the head.
March 29 and March 31 race meetings were not included in the penalty because the declaration of riders had closed.
Facts:
Following the running of race 8, Hi Tech Floor Scrubbers 1400, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) and Rule 638(3)(c). The Informant, Mr Williamson, alleged that Miss A Sims used the whip excessively on her mount STEVIE’S SURPRISE prior to the 100 metres including one strike forward of the shoulder making contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE.
Miss Sims acknowledged that she understood both Rules and confirmed her admission of the breaches. Mr N Harris assisted Miss Sims at the hearing.
Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) provides: A Rider shall not:
(ii) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is excessive
The “Guidelines With Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provides:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b) a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jump-out a horse may be struck with the drawn whip up to five times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of five strides before striking the horse again with the drawn whip, with this restriction to apply prior to the final 100 metres. The whip may then be used at the rider’s discretion until the winning post is reached. Prior to the final 600 metres of a race, official trial or jump-out the use of the drawn whip is acceptable if used in moderation and not continually.
Rule 638(3)(c) provides: A Rider shall not:
(c) strike a horse forward of its shoulder
Mr Oatham demonstrated the incident using the available video footage. He identified Miss Sims and showed that she struck her mount 8 times prior to the 100 metres. He said that the strikes were broken up but outside the Guidelines.
Mr Oatham identified on the video footage that Miss Sims strikes her mount forward of the shoulder once making contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE. He added that STEVIE’S SURPRISE head reacted to that.
Miss Sims said that she agreed that she was over the Guidelines with the number of strikes.
In explanation to striking her mount on the head Miss Sims advised the Committee that she was using a new whip for the first time today and it was a different whip than she was used to. She said the one strike to STEVIE’S SURPRISE head was unintentional.
In response to a question from the Committee, Miss Sims advised that the handle grip on the whip she had borrowed today was thicker than her normal whip that broke during track work this morning.
Mr Harris said that there was no reason for Miss Sims to strike her mount on the head and it was not intentional.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Williamson said that Miss Sims had 3 previous breaches for excessive use of the whip since 1 August 2017.
6/9/2017 - $300 fine
11/11/2017 - $500 fine
18/11/2017 – 6 day suspension
Mr Williamson said the excessive use of the whip breach was low range.
Mr Williamson said the fact that one strike made contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE was a poor look for racing in general. He noted that STEVIE’S SURPRISE head reacted to the strike and submitted a suspension of not less than 8 days would be appropriate.
Miss Sims submitted that she had no engagements in the next 7 days and any proposed suspension could start immediately.
Mr Harris said the excessive whip breach was low end and the strike to STEVIE’S SURPRISE head was not intentional and he asked for leniency.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
New whip guidelines were introduced on 1st August 2017 and an updated JCA Penalty Guide pertaining to excessive whip use came into effect on 1st November 2017.
The updated starting points for breaches of Rule 638(3) (b) (ii) are:
1st breach $300
2nd breach $500
3rd or subsequent breach 6-8 national riding day suspension.
The Committee adopted 7 national riding days as the starting point due to this charge being Miss Sims 4th breach for this Rule since 1 August 2017.
There were no aggravating factors.
The mitigating factors were Miss Sims’ admission of the breach and the number of strikes (8) was low range. It is important to note that any mitigating matters unless exceptional are not to be addressed. For that reason, no reduction in penalty was applied.
After taking into account all the above matters the Committee considered an appropriate suspension for excessive use of the whip was 7 days.
With regards to the one strike forward of the shoulder it was evident on the video that Miss Sims’ whip made contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE. After studying the video footage at slow speed and frame by frame we formed the view that the one strike was intentional. The Committee established that Miss Sims’ whip action clearly changed and her whip was drawn forward of her mounts shoulder and the striking motion was on an angle and directed towards the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE.
The JCA Penalty Guide starting point for a Rider that strikes a horse forward of its shoulder is a $500 fine. There is no precedent for a breach of this Rule.
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: 7aa20a9b18409d2833a91dcbe41eaa74
informantnumber: A10374
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of the whip and striking a horse forward of its shoulder
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 29/03/2018
hearing_title: Matamata RC 28 March 2018 - R 8 - Chair, Mr A Dooley
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 8, Hi Tech Floor Scrubbers 1400, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) and Rule 638(3)(c). The Informant, Mr Williamson, alleged that Miss A Sims used the whip excessively on her mount STEVIE’S SURPRISE prior to the 100 metres including one strike forward of the shoulder making contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE.
Miss Sims acknowledged that she understood both Rules and confirmed her admission of the breaches. Mr N Harris assisted Miss Sims at the hearing.
Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) provides: A Rider shall not:
(ii) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is excessive
The “Guidelines With Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provides:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b) a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jump-out a horse may be struck with the drawn whip up to five times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of five strides before striking the horse again with the drawn whip, with this restriction to apply prior to the final 100 metres. The whip may then be used at the rider’s discretion until the winning post is reached. Prior to the final 600 metres of a race, official trial or jump-out the use of the drawn whip is acceptable if used in moderation and not continually.
Rule 638(3)(c) provides: A Rider shall not:
(c) strike a horse forward of its shoulder
Mr Oatham demonstrated the incident using the available video footage. He identified Miss Sims and showed that she struck her mount 8 times prior to the 100 metres. He said that the strikes were broken up but outside the Guidelines.
Mr Oatham identified on the video footage that Miss Sims strikes her mount forward of the shoulder once making contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE. He added that STEVIE’S SURPRISE head reacted to that.
Miss Sims said that she agreed that she was over the Guidelines with the number of strikes.
In explanation to striking her mount on the head Miss Sims advised the Committee that she was using a new whip for the first time today and it was a different whip than she was used to. She said the one strike to STEVIE’S SURPRISE head was unintentional.
In response to a question from the Committee, Miss Sims advised that the handle grip on the whip she had borrowed today was thicker than her normal whip that broke during track work this morning.
Mr Harris said that there was no reason for Miss Sims to strike her mount on the head and it was not intentional.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Miss Sims admitted the breaches the Committee found the charges proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Williamson said that Miss Sims had 3 previous breaches for excessive use of the whip since 1 August 2017.
6/9/2017 - $300 fine
11/11/2017 - $500 fine
18/11/2017 – 6 day suspension
Mr Williamson said the excessive use of the whip breach was low range.
Mr Williamson said the fact that one strike made contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE was a poor look for racing in general. He noted that STEVIE’S SURPRISE head reacted to the strike and submitted a suspension of not less than 8 days would be appropriate.
Miss Sims submitted that she had no engagements in the next 7 days and any proposed suspension could start immediately.
Mr Harris said the excessive whip breach was low end and the strike to STEVIE’S SURPRISE head was not intentional and he asked for leniency.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
New whip guidelines were introduced on 1st August 2017 and an updated JCA Penalty Guide pertaining to excessive whip use came into effect on 1st November 2017.
The updated starting points for breaches of Rule 638(3) (b) (ii) are:
1st breach $300
2nd breach $500
3rd or subsequent breach 6-8 national riding day suspension.
The Committee adopted 7 national riding days as the starting point due to this charge being Miss Sims 4th breach for this Rule since 1 August 2017.
There were no aggravating factors.
The mitigating factors were Miss Sims’ admission of the breach and the number of strikes (8) was low range. It is important to note that any mitigating matters unless exceptional are not to be addressed. For that reason, no reduction in penalty was applied.
After taking into account all the above matters the Committee considered an appropriate suspension for excessive use of the whip was 7 days.
With regards to the one strike forward of the shoulder it was evident on the video that Miss Sims’ whip made contact with the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE. After studying the video footage at slow speed and frame by frame we formed the view that the one strike was intentional. The Committee established that Miss Sims’ whip action clearly changed and her whip was drawn forward of her mounts shoulder and the striking motion was on an angle and directed towards the head of STEVIE’S SURPRISE.
The JCA Penalty Guide starting point for a Rider that strikes a horse forward of its shoulder is a $500 fine. There is no precedent for a breach of this Rule.
penalty:
Accordingly, Miss Sims had her license to ride in races suspended for a period to commence after racing on 28 March and conclude after racing on 11 April 2018.
In addition Miss Sims was fined $500 for striking her mount once on the head.
March 29 and March 31 race meetings were not included in the penalty because the declaration of riders had closed.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3)(b)(ii) & 638(3)(c)
Informant: Mr M Williamson - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Miss A Sims - Apprentice Jockey
Otherperson: Mr N Harris - Apprentice Jockey Mentor assisting Miss Sims, Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: b23bc7e4eb6b7cc4562c8d3ad12652cc
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R8
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
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race_otherexp:
race_chair:
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meetid: b95c8a30bf83eca0d098f0b7d51f464f
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meetdate: 28/03/2018
meet_title: Matamata RC - 28 March 2018
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
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tracklocation: matamata-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: ADooley
meet_pm1: BScott
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name: Matamata RC