Northern Southland TC 11 March 2017 – R 7 – Chair, Prof G Hall
ID: JCA14775
Meet Title:
Northern Southland TC - 11 March 2017
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
PKnowles
Race Date:
2017/03/11
Race Number:
R 7
Decision:
Mr Walkinshaw admitted the charge. The charge is proved.
Penalty:
Mr Walkinshaw has sought a one-week deferment of the suspension. He is suspended from the conclusion of racing on 18 March 2017 until the conclusion of racing on 30 March 2017.
This is 3 days:
Wingatui – 20 March
Winton – 25 March
Forbury – 30 March
We also take the opportunity to emphasise to Mr Walkinshaw that his obligation to the connections of the horse he is driving and those persons who have invested on that horse is to give that horse every chance to win the race but only by driving in accordance with the Rules.
Facts:
Mr Tidmarsh, Stipendiary Steward, alleged that Mr Walkinshaw (LIKETHELOOK) used his whip excessively over the concluding stages of race 7, the Alabar New Zealand/Caduceus Club of Southland Pace.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Mr Tidmarsh showed a video replay of the race. He pointed out Mr Walkinshaw, driving LIKETHELOOK, hit his horse 13 times with the whip without the reins. This was inside the final 180 metres of the race.
Mr Walkinshaw confirmed that he had hit the horse 13 times. He said he was driving LIKETHELOOK out as it was running down the other horses in the home straight. He added the reason for the extra three strikes was that the horse was “winding the other horses in” near the line. He said he was not counting and did not believe he would have won the race if he had not given the horse “an extra couple”.
Mr Tidmarsh accepted there were slight minimal pauses in the respondent’s whip action.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Tidmarsh produced Mr Walkinshaw’s record, which he described as “not good”. This record evidences a similar charge on 19 February last at Gore where Mr Walkinshaw was fined $300. He is a busy Southland driver with 347 drives last season and 117 to date this season. Mr Tidmarsh stated as this is Mr Walkinshaw’s second breach within a 6-month period, the starting point under the guidelines is a 3 to 5 day suspension. He submitted the fact that the respondent has gone on to win the race is an aggravating factor.
Mr Walkinshaw said he was aware that a fine had been imposed on Ms Rasmussen recently and questioned whether this Committee would consider imposing a fine.
Reasons for Penalty:
There are 13 strikes and LIKETHELOOK has responded to these and has won the race. The starting point is a 3 to 5 day suspension as in the JCA Penalty Guide. There is no provision in the Penalty Guide for the imposition of a fine for a second breach.
We believe the circumstances in Rasmussen were viewed by the Committee as being exceptional in that Ms Rasmussen had drives in upcoming major races in Australia and a suspension would have prevented her participation. These are not Mr Walkinshaw’s circumstances.
We have taken guidance from the Hunter decision, where the starting point was 5 days. The strikes there were more frequent but, significantly, the number of drives the respondent has on average at a meeting is more than Mr Hunter. We calculate Mr Walkinshaw has 5 drives per meeting.
We adopt a starting point of 4 days having regard to the fact that this is the respondent’s second breach in a short time frame and the number of strikes is at the lower end of the scale. We give credit for Mr Walkinshaw’s early admission of the breach and his co-operation in this matter.
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: 7a95ef1358cf638c0d0da171696ae883
informantnumber: A8589
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of the Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 13/03/2017
hearing_title: Northern Southland TC 11 March 2017 - R 7 - Chair, Prof G Hall
charge:
facts:
Mr Tidmarsh, Stipendiary Steward, alleged that Mr Walkinshaw (LIKETHELOOK) used his whip excessively over the concluding stages of race 7, the Alabar New Zealand/Caduceus Club of Southland Pace.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Mr Tidmarsh showed a video replay of the race. He pointed out Mr Walkinshaw, driving LIKETHELOOK, hit his horse 13 times with the whip without the reins. This was inside the final 180 metres of the race.
Mr Walkinshaw confirmed that he had hit the horse 13 times. He said he was driving LIKETHELOOK out as it was running down the other horses in the home straight. He added the reason for the extra three strikes was that the horse was “winding the other horses in” near the line. He said he was not counting and did not believe he would have won the race if he had not given the horse “an extra couple”.
Mr Tidmarsh accepted there were slight minimal pauses in the respondent’s whip action.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Walkinshaw admitted the charge. The charge is proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Tidmarsh produced Mr Walkinshaw’s record, which he described as “not good”. This record evidences a similar charge on 19 February last at Gore where Mr Walkinshaw was fined $300. He is a busy Southland driver with 347 drives last season and 117 to date this season. Mr Tidmarsh stated as this is Mr Walkinshaw’s second breach within a 6-month period, the starting point under the guidelines is a 3 to 5 day suspension. He submitted the fact that the respondent has gone on to win the race is an aggravating factor.
Mr Walkinshaw said he was aware that a fine had been imposed on Ms Rasmussen recently and questioned whether this Committee would consider imposing a fine.
reasonsforpenalty:
There are 13 strikes and LIKETHELOOK has responded to these and has won the race. The starting point is a 3 to 5 day suspension as in the JCA Penalty Guide. There is no provision in the Penalty Guide for the imposition of a fine for a second breach.
We believe the circumstances in Rasmussen were viewed by the Committee as being exceptional in that Ms Rasmussen had drives in upcoming major races in Australia and a suspension would have prevented her participation. These are not Mr Walkinshaw’s circumstances.
We have taken guidance from the Hunter decision, where the starting point was 5 days. The strikes there were more frequent but, significantly, the number of drives the respondent has on average at a meeting is more than Mr Hunter. We calculate Mr Walkinshaw has 5 drives per meeting.
We adopt a starting point of 4 days having regard to the fact that this is the respondent’s second breach in a short time frame and the number of strikes is at the lower end of the scale. We give credit for Mr Walkinshaw’s early admission of the breach and his co-operation in this matter.
penalty:
Mr Walkinshaw has sought a one-week deferment of the suspension. He is suspended from the conclusion of racing on 18 March 2017 until the conclusion of racing on 30 March 2017.
This is 3 days:
Wingatui – 20 March
Winton – 25 March
Forbury – 30 March
We also take the opportunity to emphasise to Mr Walkinshaw that his obligation to the connections of the horse he is driving and those persons who have invested on that horse is to give that horse every chance to win the race but only by driving in accordance with the Rules.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: Mr L Tidmarsh - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Walkinshaw - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 09d7bfba1716bfeddb038a9c90bd7521
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 7797f084af4f2563f04f6faf1a3638a8
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 11/03/2017
meet_title: Northern Southland TC - 11 March 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: northern-southland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: PKnowles
meet_pm2: none
name: Northern Southland TC