Oamaru HRC 16 February 2019 – R 2 – Chair, Mr P Knowles
ID: JCA14602
Meet Title:
Oamaru HRC - 16 February 2019
Meet Chair:
PKnowles
Meet Committee Member 1:
GHall
Race Date:
2019/02/16
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
Mr Smith admitted the breach and it is found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Smith is fined $225.
Facts:
Mr Smith was charged by the Stewards for breaking a driving engagement in race 2 at the meeting the Fasttrack Insurance Mobile Pace. Stewards lodged an information alleging that Mr Smith was in breach of r 507 (1) in that he “…failed to arrive on course on time to fulfil his driving engagement on DREAMINSOVER which required a late driver change.”
Rule 507 (1) reads:
No horseman shall break an engagement to drive a horse.
Mr Smith admitted the breach and appeared at the hearing.
Mr Wallis stated that when driver engagements for the meeting closed Mr Smith was engaged to drive DREAMINSOVER. At approximately 11.27am he received a txt message from Mr Smith saying that they would be late arriving on the course due to heavy traffic, but should be on course by about 12.10pm. Mr Wallis said he replied to the txt message at 11.48am and 11.49am. He had no further communication with Mr Smith or Mr Close despite attempts to phone Mr Smith.
He said when it became clear that Mr Smith was not on the course to fulfil his engagement Mr J Cox accepted the drive. Mr Smith arrived on the course just prior to the start of race 2 but the change had already been made.
Mr Smith said he was about five minutes late picking up Mr Close. However, he still expected to be on course with about 40 minutes to spare. He said traffic was moderate to heavy and he had a long delay getting diesel in Ashburton. This cost him between 20 to 30 minutes. Traffic was slow from that point onwards and when he realised they would be a few minutes late on course he sent a txt to Mr Wallis informing him of that. A little while later he attempted to ring Mr Wallis but all he got was an engaged signal. At that point he was in the Waitaki area where the reception is poor. He said he phoned the trainers of the horses and said they would be late. He said he had factored in the diesel stop to his travel time but did not anticipate the volume of traffic.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Wallis stated that Mr Smith had a previous fine ($100-MIN) on the 2nd February this year at Geraldine for being late onto the course. He accepted Mr Smith had unusually long delays getting to the course but as the driver he was responsible for ensuring he arrived at the course on time. Due to the previous charge for a similar offence he sought a fine of $250.
Mr Smith accepted he was late to the course. However the delays and heavy traffic were out of his hands. He had also lost a driving fee.
Reasons for Penalty:
This is the second time Mr Smith has been late onto the course this month. On this occasion another horseman had to be engaged at inconvenience to the connections and the betting public. However, we also accept that while Mr Smith believed he had started his journey with time to spare, heavy traffic and securing diesel delays were mitigating factors in him being late on course. We take a starting point of $250 and give Mr Smith credit for his guilty plea and the mitigating factors.
JCA Decision Fields (raw)
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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: 98c2a2873680ed5e1484a1d5279d5099
informantnumber: A108336
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Breaking a driving engagement
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 20/02/2019
hearing_title: Oamaru HRC 16 February 2019 - R 2 - Chair, Mr P Knowles
charge:
facts:
Mr Smith was charged by the Stewards for breaking a driving engagement in race 2 at the meeting the Fasttrack Insurance Mobile Pace. Stewards lodged an information alleging that Mr Smith was in breach of r 507 (1) in that he “…failed to arrive on course on time to fulfil his driving engagement on DREAMINSOVER which required a late driver change.”
Rule 507 (1) reads:
No horseman shall break an engagement to drive a horse.
Mr Smith admitted the breach and appeared at the hearing.
Mr Wallis stated that when driver engagements for the meeting closed Mr Smith was engaged to drive DREAMINSOVER. At approximately 11.27am he received a txt message from Mr Smith saying that they would be late arriving on the course due to heavy traffic, but should be on course by about 12.10pm. Mr Wallis said he replied to the txt message at 11.48am and 11.49am. He had no further communication with Mr Smith or Mr Close despite attempts to phone Mr Smith.
He said when it became clear that Mr Smith was not on the course to fulfil his engagement Mr J Cox accepted the drive. Mr Smith arrived on the course just prior to the start of race 2 but the change had already been made.
Mr Smith said he was about five minutes late picking up Mr Close. However, he still expected to be on course with about 40 minutes to spare. He said traffic was moderate to heavy and he had a long delay getting diesel in Ashburton. This cost him between 20 to 30 minutes. Traffic was slow from that point onwards and when he realised they would be a few minutes late on course he sent a txt to Mr Wallis informing him of that. A little while later he attempted to ring Mr Wallis but all he got was an engaged signal. At that point he was in the Waitaki area where the reception is poor. He said he phoned the trainers of the horses and said they would be late. He said he had factored in the diesel stop to his travel time but did not anticipate the volume of traffic.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Smith admitted the breach and it is found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Wallis stated that Mr Smith had a previous fine ($100-MIN) on the 2nd February this year at Geraldine for being late onto the course. He accepted Mr Smith had unusually long delays getting to the course but as the driver he was responsible for ensuring he arrived at the course on time. Due to the previous charge for a similar offence he sought a fine of $250.
Mr Smith accepted he was late to the course. However the delays and heavy traffic were out of his hands. He had also lost a driving fee.
reasonsforpenalty:
This is the second time Mr Smith has been late onto the course this month. On this occasion another horseman had to be engaged at inconvenience to the connections and the betting public. However, we also accept that while Mr Smith believed he had started his journey with time to spare, heavy traffic and securing diesel delays were mitigating factors in him being late on course. We take a starting point of $250 and give Mr Smith credit for his guilty plea and the mitigating factors.
penalty:
Mr Smith is fined $225.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 507 (1)
Informant: Mr S Wallis - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr G Smith - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: f5007dbdd39e08d24c37f8f213c3b1ee
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 1effab822523a827e549850062c4bd0c
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 16/02/2019
meet_title: Oamaru HRC - 16 February 2019
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: oamaru-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: PKnowles
meet_pm1: GHall
meet_pm2: none
name: Oamaru HRC