Ashburton RC 12 March 2020 – R 5 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA14048
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Ashburton RC - 12 March 2020
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2020/03/12
Race Number:
R5
Decision:
Mr Balloo having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Balloo’s Jockey’s Licence (Class A) is suspended from 13 March 2020 to 23 March 2020, both dates inclusive – 6 national riding days.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 9, Betty Wadley Memorial Rating 82, an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr DM Wadley, against Licensed Jockey (Class A), Mr A Balloo, alleging that Mr Balloo, as the rider of BABAN in the race, he “used the whip excessively prior to the 100 metres”.
Mr Balloo was present at the hearing of the Information and he indicated that he admitted the breach.
Rule 638 provides as follows:
(3) A Rider shall not:
(b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is:
(ii) excessive.
The Use of the Whip Guidelines provide as follows:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b), a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Prior to the 100-metre mark in a race, official trial or jump out:
(i) The whip should not be used on more than 5 occasions.
(ii) The whip should not be used in consecutive strides.
(iii) The rider may at their discretion use the whip with a slapping motion down the shoulder, with the whip hand remaining on the reins.
In the final 100 metres, the whip may be used at the Rider’s discretion.
Mr Wadley had Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr JP Oatham, show a video replay of the final 500 metres of the race. He pointed out BABAN, ridden by Mr Balloo, leading the field against the rail as the field turned into the home straight. Mr Wadley alleged that, from that point, Mr Balloo had used the whip eleven times prior to the 100 metres. Mr Balloo accepted the allegation of eleven strikes.
The Committee was satisfied with the count of eleven from its own observation of the replay.
Mr Balloo said that he was aware that only five strikes were permitted prior to the 100 metres. It was his first time riding at Ashburton and he may have misjudged the length of the straight but, nevertheless, he should have been more aware of the number of strikes, he said.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Wadley told the hearing that Mr Balloo had a clear record under the Rule. He referred to the penalties prescribed under the guidelines and said he would leave it up to the Committee to determine penalty.
In making penalty submissions, Mr Balloo repeated the submissions that he had made to the Committee earlier in the hearing. He said that he did not wish to make any excuse for his actions.
Reasons for Penalty:
In considering penalty, the Committee had regard to the penalties set out in the guidelines. For a breach involving ten or more strikes, in this case eleven, the prescribed penalty is a 6 national riding days suspension. This clearly reflects that it is to be regarded as a serious breach of the whip rule for a rider to strike his mount that many times prior to the 100 metres. It is a serious breach and worthy of a term of suspension. A six-day suspension is the starting point for a mid-range breach. We regard this breach as being in that category. Eleven strikes places the breach just in the range of a suspension and we noted that the strikes were not on consecutive strides.
The Committee understands that mitigating factors, if any, are not to be taken into account. Accordingly, the Committee adopts, as penalty in this case, the penalty set out in the guidelines of a six national riding days suspension.
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: 913a67d806666ed7d8ef5bb3979a5046
informantnumber: A8918
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 16/03/2020
hearing_title: Ashburton RC 12 March 2020 - R 5 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 9, Betty Wadley Memorial Rating 82, an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr DM Wadley, against Licensed Jockey (Class A), Mr A Balloo, alleging that Mr Balloo, as the rider of BABAN in the race, he “used the whip excessively prior to the 100 metres”.
Mr Balloo was present at the hearing of the Information and he indicated that he admitted the breach.
Rule 638 provides as follows:
(3) A Rider shall not:
(b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is:
(ii) excessive.
The Use of the Whip Guidelines provide as follows:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b), a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Prior to the 100-metre mark in a race, official trial or jump out:
(i) The whip should not be used on more than 5 occasions.
(ii) The whip should not be used in consecutive strides.
(iii) The rider may at their discretion use the whip with a slapping motion down the shoulder, with the whip hand remaining on the reins.
In the final 100 metres, the whip may be used at the Rider’s discretion.
Mr Wadley had Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr JP Oatham, show a video replay of the final 500 metres of the race. He pointed out BABAN, ridden by Mr Balloo, leading the field against the rail as the field turned into the home straight. Mr Wadley alleged that, from that point, Mr Balloo had used the whip eleven times prior to the 100 metres. Mr Balloo accepted the allegation of eleven strikes.
The Committee was satisfied with the count of eleven from its own observation of the replay.
Mr Balloo said that he was aware that only five strikes were permitted prior to the 100 metres. It was his first time riding at Ashburton and he may have misjudged the length of the straight but, nevertheless, he should have been more aware of the number of strikes, he said.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Balloo having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Wadley told the hearing that Mr Balloo had a clear record under the Rule. He referred to the penalties prescribed under the guidelines and said he would leave it up to the Committee to determine penalty.
In making penalty submissions, Mr Balloo repeated the submissions that he had made to the Committee earlier in the hearing. He said that he did not wish to make any excuse for his actions.
reasonsforpenalty:
In considering penalty, the Committee had regard to the penalties set out in the guidelines. For a breach involving ten or more strikes, in this case eleven, the prescribed penalty is a 6 national riding days suspension. This clearly reflects that it is to be regarded as a serious breach of the whip rule for a rider to strike his mount that many times prior to the 100 metres. It is a serious breach and worthy of a term of suspension. A six-day suspension is the starting point for a mid-range breach. We regard this breach as being in that category. Eleven strikes places the breach just in the range of a suspension and we noted that the strikes were not on consecutive strides.
The Committee understands that mitigating factors, if any, are not to be taken into account. Accordingly, the Committee adopts, as penalty in this case, the penalty set out in the guidelines of a six national riding days suspension.
penalty:
Mr Balloo’s Jockey’s Licence (Class A) is suspended from 13 March 2020 to 23 March 2020, both dates inclusive – 6 national riding days.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3(b)(ii)
Informant: Mr DM Wadley - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr A Balloo - Licensed Jockey (Class A)
Otherperson: Mr JP Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: ae7a3467451cf63ffe26fd452eb96689
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R5
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 17faf3a87af380d0abcd4478ca312a80
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 12/03/2020
meet_title: Ashburton RC - 12 March 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: ashburton-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: Ashburton RC