Archive Decision

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Akaroa TC 20 March 2011 – R 2 (instigating a protest)

ID: JCA14313

Applicant:
Mrs K. Williams - Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Mr D. J. Butt - Open Horseman

Information Number:
14003

Hearing Type:
Protest

Rules:
869(8)

Meet Title:
Akaroa TC - 20 March 2011

Meet Chair:
JPhelan

Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing

Race Date:
2011/03/20

Race Number:
R1

Decision:

The protest was upheld, and “Moon Boyz” was relegated from 3rd to 5th place behind “The Truth”. The amended places are as follows.
1st – Amos (2)
2nd – Volume Control (6)
3rd – Thunder Maker (15)
4th – The Truth (7)
5th – Moon Boyz (8)
6th – Phoebe Revival (11)

Note: There was a subsequent protest against the promoted 4th horse, “The Truth”.

Facts:

Following the running of Race 2, the Motukarara Trotting Association Trot, an Information Instigating a Protest was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mrs K. R. Williams alleging interference by “Moon Boyz” (8), driven by Mr D. J. Butt, to “The Truth” (7), driven by Mr M. P. Edmonds, late in the run home.
The Judges placings in this race were as follows.
1st – Amos (2)
2nd – Volume Control (6)
3rd – Moon Boyz (8)
4th – Thunder Maker (15)
5th – The Truth (7)
6th – Phoebe Revival (11)
The Information reads as follows.
“This is a protest against horse number (8) placed 3rd by the Judge on the grounds of interference to (7) The Truth late in the run home.”
Rule 869(8) provides as follows.
The Judicial Committee may in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed pursuant to Rule 1003 thereof place any horse which:
(a) may have gained an advantage by any conduct or interference prohibited by any preceding provision of this Rule and/or
(b) may have interfered with, or whose horseman may have interfered with, the progress or chance of any other horse or horses, -
immediately after any horse from which it may have gained an advantage or whose chances or progress may have been affected thereby.
The connections of “The Truth” were represented at this hearing by Mr M. P. Edmonds, the trainer and driver of the horse, and Mr D. J. Butt, the driver of “Moon Boyz”, represented the interests of that horse. All parties agreed that they understood the Rule and the nature of the protest.

Submissions for Decision:

Video coverage of this incident was shown to illustrate that late in the run home “The Truth” was making ground from behind “Moon Boyz” when it was seen to throw its head in the air and break. It was the Stipendiary Stewards’ evidence that Mr Butt had struck this horse on the head by drawing his whip too far back.
Mr Edmonds gave evidence that his horse was hit on the head as alleged, and this was the reason that his horse broke. When challenged by Mr Butt that he was mistaken there had been whip contact to his horse, Mr Edmonds could not be shaken in his evidence.
Mr Butt gave evidence that he had not struck “The Truth” with his whip, and he used video evidence to support this evidence. He also said that “The Truth” had probably shied at his arm action. Mr Butt also said that he would have felt it if his whip had made contact with “The Truth’s” head.
We adjourned to consider our decision.

Reasons for Decision:

We carefully considered the evidence and the video coverage of the incident. We were satisfied that “The Truth” did break late in the run home, and that the reason for this was that it had been struck on the head by Mr Butt’s whip. In this respect we preferred the evidence of Mr Edmonds (who was looking forward) to that of Mr Butt (also looking forward) as Mr Butt could not have seen where his whip might have landed at the time of this incident.
Taking all the above matters into account we decided that this protest should be upheld.

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: 7387d30f0c6e03b13f424158e1b22cf2


informantnumber: 14003


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge:


plea:


penaltyrequired:


decisiondate: 24/02/2011


hearing_title: Akaroa TC 20 March 2011 - R 2 (instigating a protest)


charge:


facts:

Following the running of Race 2, the Motukarara Trotting Association Trot, an Information Instigating a Protest was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mrs K. R. Williams alleging interference by “Moon Boyz” (8), driven by Mr D. J. Butt, to “The Truth” (7), driven by Mr M. P. Edmonds, late in the run home.
The Judges placings in this race were as follows.
1st – Amos (2)
2nd – Volume Control (6)
3rd – Moon Boyz (8)
4th – Thunder Maker (15)
5th – The Truth (7)
6th – Phoebe Revival (11)
The Information reads as follows.
“This is a protest against horse number (8) placed 3rd by the Judge on the grounds of interference to (7) The Truth late in the run home.”
Rule 869(8) provides as follows.
The Judicial Committee may in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed pursuant to Rule 1003 thereof place any horse which:
(a) may have gained an advantage by any conduct or interference prohibited by any preceding provision of this Rule and/or
(b) may have interfered with, or whose horseman may have interfered with, the progress or chance of any other horse or horses, -
immediately after any horse from which it may have gained an advantage or whose chances or progress may have been affected thereby.
The connections of “The Truth” were represented at this hearing by Mr M. P. Edmonds, the trainer and driver of the horse, and Mr D. J. Butt, the driver of “Moon Boyz”, represented the interests of that horse. All parties agreed that they understood the Rule and the nature of the protest.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:

Video coverage of this incident was shown to illustrate that late in the run home “The Truth” was making ground from behind “Moon Boyz” when it was seen to throw its head in the air and break. It was the Stipendiary Stewards’ evidence that Mr Butt had struck this horse on the head by drawing his whip too far back.
Mr Edmonds gave evidence that his horse was hit on the head as alleged, and this was the reason that his horse broke. When challenged by Mr Butt that he was mistaken there had been whip contact to his horse, Mr Edmonds could not be shaken in his evidence.
Mr Butt gave evidence that he had not struck “The Truth” with his whip, and he used video evidence to support this evidence. He also said that “The Truth” had probably shied at his arm action. Mr Butt also said that he would have felt it if his whip had made contact with “The Truth’s” head.
We adjourned to consider our decision.


reasonsfordecision:

We carefully considered the evidence and the video coverage of the incident. We were satisfied that “The Truth” did break late in the run home, and that the reason for this was that it had been struck on the head by Mr Butt’s whip. In this respect we preferred the evidence of Mr Edmonds (who was looking forward) to that of Mr Butt (also looking forward) as Mr Butt could not have seen where his whip might have landed at the time of this incident.
Taking all the above matters into account we decided that this protest should be upheld.


Decision:

The protest was upheld, and “Moon Boyz” was relegated from 3rd to 5th place behind “The Truth”. The amended places are as follows.
1st – Amos (2)
2nd – Volume Control (6)
3rd – Thunder Maker (15)
4th – The Truth (7)
5th – Moon Boyz (8)
6th – Phoebe Revival (11)

Note: There was a subsequent protest against the promoted 4th horse, “The Truth”.


sumissionsforpenalty:


reasonsforpenalty:


penalty:


hearing_type: Protest


Rules: 869(8)


Informant: Mrs K. Williams - Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer:


Otherperson:


PersonPresent: Mr M. P. Edmonds - Open Horseman


Respondent: Mr D. J. Butt - Open Horseman


StipendSteward:


raceid: f67e9627c06ce6ab68894a07bbfd9abd


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R1


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: 5c3fa91e274d5feea888af613d2af386


meet_expapproval: approved


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 20/03/2011


meet_title: Akaroa TC - 20 March 2011


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km: [{"Comment": [], "MemberRole": "Chair ", "MemberID": "JPhelan", "Member": "", "OtherExpenses": "0", "KMs": "70", "Total": "43.4", "kmprice": 43.399999999999999, "Approved": "on"}, {"Comment": [], "MemberRole": "Panel member 1 ", "MemberID": "SChing", "Member": "", "OtherExpenses": "0", "KMs": "71", "Total": "44.02", "kmprice": 44.020000000000003, "Approved": "on"}]


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: akaroa-tc


meet_racingtype: harness-racing


meet_chair: JPhelan


meet_pm1: SChing


meet_pm2: none


name: Akaroa TC