Wellington RC 8 April 2017 – R 5 – Chair, Mrs N Moffatt
ID: JCA14126
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Wellington RC - 8 April 2017
Meet Chair:
NMoffatt
Meet Committee Member 1:
TUtikere
Race Date:
2017/04/08
Race Number:
R 5
Decision:
As Mr Elliot admitted the breach the charge was found to be proved.
Penalty:
Mr Elliot said he rode only throughout the North Island and advised of riding commitments through until next Saturday.
Mr Elliot is therefore suspended from the close of racing on Saturday April 15th up to and including racing on Tuesday April 25th. Days included are:
17/4/17 Taupo
20/4/17 Woodville
21/4/17 Te Aroha
22/4/17 Auckland/Wellington
25/4/17 Avondale/Feilding
Facts:
Mr Davidson lodged an information with the Judicial Committee alleging a breach of Rule 638 (3) (b) in that R Elliot used his whip excessively on his mount MALFARIOUS prior to the 200m.
Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) reads: "A Rider shall not:- (b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is: (ii) ... excessive."
Mr Elliot acknowledged he understood the rule and confirmed his admission of the breach. Mr Barlow, foreman for the Rogerson stable, was present to assist.
Mr Balcombe played the video of the race from the final straight calculating that Mr Elliot hit his horse approximately 10 times prior to the 200m without the required respite. Mr Elliot and Mr Barlow both agreed that this was an accurate assessment of the number of strikes.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Davidson said Mr Elliot’s record showed he had been fined $300 at Poverty Bay in January for striking his horse 12 times, and he received a three day suspension on March 8th for another breach of the rule where he had hit his horse 11 times prior to the 200m. Mr Davidson said it was obvious that Mr Elliot had an issue with the whip but he has been working with the riding master to try and improve. According to the stewards an aggravating factor today was that Mr Elliot won the race while all other riders had ridden within the whip guidelines.
Mr Davidson submitted that a term of suspension be imposed but made no recommendation as to quantum.
In response to a question from the Committee Mr Davidson said although Mr Elliot used a windmill action, he did not think Mr Elliot’s whip use had been particularly forceful and he was certainly no worse than any other rider in the race.
Mr Elliot told the Committee that he had come a long way since his last breach on March 8th. After working with Noel Harris and Kane Smith his whip use has been getting less on each subsequent race day. Mr Elliot said he used to start using the whip prior to the turn but is now waiting and counting to ten before drawing the whip. In addition he is practising on the mechanical horse and attempting to get into a lower stance to push his horses forward. Mr Elliot said today it took a long time to get his horse rolling and he had been pushing before the turn. Mr Barlow said that MALFARIOUS was a horse that only did what it had to and unless pushed would only cruise along. He said that after Mr Elliot got it rolling forward he actually put the whip away towards the finish.
Reasons for Penalty:
The committee notes that the Penalty Guide for Judicial Committees provides a starting point of a 3-5 day suspension for a second breach of Rule 638(3) (b) within a six month period. Today is Mr Elliot’s third breach in three months which is a significant aggravating factor and indicates that previous penalties have not been a sufficient deterrent.
Mr Elliot has given us a detailed account of the work he is doing to try and improve his whip use and maintains that he is improving however it was concerning to us today that Mr Elliot remains some way off the recommended guidelines. Prior to the 200m a rider is permitted to use the whip six times and then must give six strides respite. We heard evidence that Mr Elliot was not using a lot of force however there was only little respite in his whip action which is a poor look for racing. The Stewards also made a point of Mr Elliot winning the race which, Mr Barlow indicated, he may not have done if he had ridden within the whip guidelines. It was our opinion, after balancing up all factors, that an appropriate penalty was a five day suspension. We reminded Mr Elliot and Mr Barlow that regardless of trainers’ instructions riders were nevertheless duty bound to ride within the rules and whip guidelines.
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: 9b00ca0285b58e5bd45e9dfecfb15a80
informantnumber: A9203
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 10/04/2017
hearing_title: Wellington RC 8 April 2017 - R 5 - Chair, Mrs N Moffatt
charge:
facts:
Mr Davidson lodged an information with the Judicial Committee alleging a breach of Rule 638 (3) (b) in that R Elliot used his whip excessively on his mount MALFARIOUS prior to the 200m.
Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) reads: "A Rider shall not:- (b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is: (ii) ... excessive."
Mr Elliot acknowledged he understood the rule and confirmed his admission of the breach. Mr Barlow, foreman for the Rogerson stable, was present to assist.
Mr Balcombe played the video of the race from the final straight calculating that Mr Elliot hit his horse approximately 10 times prior to the 200m without the required respite. Mr Elliot and Mr Barlow both agreed that this was an accurate assessment of the number of strikes.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Elliot admitted the breach the charge was found to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Davidson said Mr Elliot’s record showed he had been fined $300 at Poverty Bay in January for striking his horse 12 times, and he received a three day suspension on March 8th for another breach of the rule where he had hit his horse 11 times prior to the 200m. Mr Davidson said it was obvious that Mr Elliot had an issue with the whip but he has been working with the riding master to try and improve. According to the stewards an aggravating factor today was that Mr Elliot won the race while all other riders had ridden within the whip guidelines.
Mr Davidson submitted that a term of suspension be imposed but made no recommendation as to quantum.
In response to a question from the Committee Mr Davidson said although Mr Elliot used a windmill action, he did not think Mr Elliot’s whip use had been particularly forceful and he was certainly no worse than any other rider in the race.
Mr Elliot told the Committee that he had come a long way since his last breach on March 8th. After working with Noel Harris and Kane Smith his whip use has been getting less on each subsequent race day. Mr Elliot said he used to start using the whip prior to the turn but is now waiting and counting to ten before drawing the whip. In addition he is practising on the mechanical horse and attempting to get into a lower stance to push his horses forward. Mr Elliot said today it took a long time to get his horse rolling and he had been pushing before the turn. Mr Barlow said that MALFARIOUS was a horse that only did what it had to and unless pushed would only cruise along. He said that after Mr Elliot got it rolling forward he actually put the whip away towards the finish.
reasonsforpenalty:
The committee notes that the Penalty Guide for Judicial Committees provides a starting point of a 3-5 day suspension for a second breach of Rule 638(3) (b) within a six month period. Today is Mr Elliot’s third breach in three months which is a significant aggravating factor and indicates that previous penalties have not been a sufficient deterrent.
Mr Elliot has given us a detailed account of the work he is doing to try and improve his whip use and maintains that he is improving however it was concerning to us today that Mr Elliot remains some way off the recommended guidelines. Prior to the 200m a rider is permitted to use the whip six times and then must give six strides respite. We heard evidence that Mr Elliot was not using a lot of force however there was only little respite in his whip action which is a poor look for racing. The Stewards also made a point of Mr Elliot winning the race which, Mr Barlow indicated, he may not have done if he had ridden within the whip guidelines. It was our opinion, after balancing up all factors, that an appropriate penalty was a five day suspension. We reminded Mr Elliot and Mr Barlow that regardless of trainers’ instructions riders were nevertheless duty bound to ride within the rules and whip guidelines.
penalty:
Mr Elliot said he rode only throughout the North Island and advised of riding commitments through until next Saturday.
Mr Elliot is therefore suspended from the close of racing on Saturday April 15th up to and including racing on Tuesday April 25th. Days included are:
17/4/17 Taupo
20/4/17 Woodville
21/4/17 Te Aroha
22/4/17 Auckland/Wellington
25/4/17 Avondale/Feilding
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3)(b)
Informant: Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr R Elliot - Apprentice Rider
Otherperson: Mr G Barlow - assisting Mr Elliot, Mr D Balcombe - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: c14fbce0c34df66d2e31478ed0c330ec
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 5
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 1eef7ec49fe619381af6cc062cc16695
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 08/04/2017
meet_title: Wellington RC - 8 April 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: wellington-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: NMoffatt
meet_pm1: TUtikere
meet_pm2: none
name: Wellington RC