Methven TC 6 October 2013 – R 10
ID: JCA14199
Meet Title:
Methven TC - 6 October 2013
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
KHales
Race Date:
2013/10/06
Race Number:
R 10
Decision:
As Mr Smolenski has admitted the charge it is therefore deemed to be proved.
Penalty:
Mr Smolenski is fined $250.
Charge:
It was alleged that Mr Smolenski used his whip excessively when driving “Whata Gamble”, over the concluding stages of the race.
Facts:
During the final stages of the “Pegasus Spur Trotbred F & M Handicap Trot”, it was observed that Mr Smolenski was using his whip excessively. Mr Wallis showed the incident on the video coverage of the concluding stages of the race and estimated that Mr Smolenski appeared to strike his horse approximately 23 times with only one discernible pause. In the Stipendiary Stewards' opinion this was “too much”.
In response, Mr Smolenski said that he did not take issue with the estimated number of strikes with the whip, and said that he got a bit carried away when he thought that he was in with a chance of winning. “Whata Gamble” finished 2nd having been beaten by half a neck.
Submissions for Penalty:
The Stipendiary Stewards advised the hearing that Mr Smolenski had a prior charge against him for a breach of this Rule, in April 2013 at the New Zealand Metropolitan’s meeting in April when he was fined $300. The Stipendiary Stewards submitted that a fine of no less than $300 was appropriate for this breach.
Mr Smolenski reminded the hearing that the race in question was the NZ Trotting Derby, at a Premier meeting, and that as a consequence the fine attracted a premium.
Reasons for Penalty:
Our starting point for the imposition of penalty is $500 (or a 10 drive suspension) as per the Judicial Control Authority’s Penalty Guide. We have also had reference to the Penalty Database and note that there has been a wide range of fines from as low as $150 to $400 for a similar offence (second occasion) of recent times.
In considering the fine to be imposed, we considered that in the normal course of events, Mr Smolenski would have been fined $200 in April 2013, had it not been for the fact that that it was a premier race. Thus in our view there was room for some leeway in Mr Smolenski’s favour in terms of setting the amount of the fine, that is to say, just because Mr Smolenski was fined $300 in April, did not mean, ipso facto, that it was necessary to set a fine above that.
Mr Smolenski was given the opportunity to address us on a suspension, but after being advised of the penalty that we were considering, in terms of a fine, he elected not to pursue his submissions further.
Mr Smolenski admitted the breach at an early opportunity and we give him credit for that.
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: a6c5396d86cf06ffdd850b848cda34dd
informantnumber: A1631
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 20/09/2013
hearing_title: Methven TC 6 October 2013 - R 10
charge:
It was alleged that Mr Smolenski used his whip excessively when driving “Whata Gamble”, over the concluding stages of the race.
facts:
During the final stages of the “Pegasus Spur Trotbred F & M Handicap Trot”, it was observed that Mr Smolenski was using his whip excessively. Mr Wallis showed the incident on the video coverage of the concluding stages of the race and estimated that Mr Smolenski appeared to strike his horse approximately 23 times with only one discernible pause. In the Stipendiary Stewards' opinion this was “too much”.
In response, Mr Smolenski said that he did not take issue with the estimated number of strikes with the whip, and said that he got a bit carried away when he thought that he was in with a chance of winning. “Whata Gamble” finished 2nd having been beaten by half a neck.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Smolenski has admitted the charge it is therefore deemed to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
The Stipendiary Stewards advised the hearing that Mr Smolenski had a prior charge against him for a breach of this Rule, in April 2013 at the New Zealand Metropolitan’s meeting in April when he was fined $300. The Stipendiary Stewards submitted that a fine of no less than $300 was appropriate for this breach.
Mr Smolenski reminded the hearing that the race in question was the NZ Trotting Derby, at a Premier meeting, and that as a consequence the fine attracted a premium.
reasonsforpenalty:
Our starting point for the imposition of penalty is $500 (or a 10 drive suspension) as per the Judicial Control Authority’s Penalty Guide. We have also had reference to the Penalty Database and note that there has been a wide range of fines from as low as $150 to $400 for a similar offence (second occasion) of recent times.
In considering the fine to be imposed, we considered that in the normal course of events, Mr Smolenski would have been fined $200 in April 2013, had it not been for the fact that that it was a premier race. Thus in our view there was room for some leeway in Mr Smolenski’s favour in terms of setting the amount of the fine, that is to say, just because Mr Smolenski was fined $300 in April, did not mean, ipso facto, that it was necessary to set a fine above that.
Mr Smolenski was given the opportunity to address us on a suspension, but after being advised of the penalty that we were considering, in terms of a fine, he elected not to pursue his submissions further.
Mr Smolenski admitted the breach at an early opportunity and we give him credit for that.
penalty:
Mr Smolenski is fined $250.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2) - "No horseman shall during any race:-, Use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner".
Informant: Mr S W Wallis - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S F Smolenski - Licensed Open Horseman
Otherperson: Mr N M Ydgren - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 3adf4bc363bf36b3dcdbdb07d84ee957
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 10
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 321495b341205782a6bef7843483eb87
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 06/10/2013
meet_title: Methven TC - 6 October 2013
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: methven-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: KHales
meet_pm2: none
name: Methven TC