Rangiora HRC 28 June 2015 – R 10
ID: JCA15014
Meet Title:
Rangiora HRC - 28 June 2015
Meet Chair:
KHales
Meet Committee Member 1:
RMcKenzie
Race Date:
2015/06/28
Race Number:
R 10
Decision:
As Mr Houghton has admitted the breach, it is therefore deemed to be proved.
Penalty:
Mr Houghton is accordingly suspended from driving at the conclusion of racing on Sunday 5th July 2015 until the conclusion of racing on Sunday 19th July 2015. That period of suspension will encompass meetings at Addington on Friday 10th July, Addington on Thursday 16th July and Ashburton on Sunday 19th July 2015.
Facts:
It was alleged that Mr Houghton used his whip in an excessive manner over the concluding stages of Race 10, “The Hurunui River Handicap Trot.” As a consequence, Mr Houghton was charged with a breach of Rule 869(2)(a) which reads:
“(2) No horseman shall during any race:
(a) Use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner;”
The charge was admitted and is thereby deemed to be proved.
Mr Houghton was engaged to drive “Living Legend” in Race 10. With approximately 250 metres to run to the winning post, Mr Houghton began to use his whip on “Living Legend” and struck his horse approximately 21 times without any discernible pauses in his whip action. The Stipendiary Stewards submitted that in their opinion, “that was too much”.
In response, Mr Houghton said that he did not dispute the Stewards' allegations that he used his whip in the manner described, and candidly admitted that he was in breach of the rule by using his whip in an excessive manner.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Wallis said that Mr Houghton was suspended for two race days at the Nelson Harness Racing Club’s meeting as recently as 7th June 2015. He also referred to the Judicial Control Authority’s Penalty Guide which provides for suspension of between 3 and 5 days for a second breach of the rule within a six month period. Mr Wallis said that Mr Houghton was getting an increasing number of drives for his employer, Mr R Dunn and had driven in approximately 40 races during the current season. Mr Wallis submitted that a suspension of 4 days should be imposed.
Reasons for Penalty:
For the purposes of imposing penalty, we have adopted as a starting point, a suspension of 4 race days.
Against our starting point, we take into account, aggravating and mitigating factors.
We do not consider that there are any particular factors by way of aggravation which would warrant an uplift on our starting point.
By way of mitigation, Mr Houghton has admitted the breach at the earliest opportunity, and although the number of strikes was excessive, we are satisfied from the video evidence that the strikes were not delivered with any great force. We will therefore allow a discount of 1 day on our starting point.
Mr Houghton has applied for a deferment of the commencement of the period of suspension. After hearing from Mr Houghton, we are satisfied that he has engagements for his employer, Mr R Dunn, at Addington on Friday 3rd July and at Timaru on Sunday 5th July. Therefore, his application for a deferment is granted.
In order to determine on which days the suspension will take effect, we are also satisfied that Mr Houghton does not drive further south than Timaru and accordingly a race day at Oamaru on Sunday 12th July, will not be taken into account.
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: 9a2ad2ad9734f03c9440bc836ab20a81
informantnumber: A3612
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of the whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 01/07/2015
hearing_title: Rangiora HRC 28 June 2015 - R 10
charge:
facts:
It was alleged that Mr Houghton used his whip in an excessive manner over the concluding stages of Race 10, “The Hurunui River Handicap Trot.” As a consequence, Mr Houghton was charged with a breach of Rule 869(2)(a) which reads:
“(2) No horseman shall during any race:
(a) Use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner;”
The charge was admitted and is thereby deemed to be proved.
Mr Houghton was engaged to drive “Living Legend” in Race 10. With approximately 250 metres to run to the winning post, Mr Houghton began to use his whip on “Living Legend” and struck his horse approximately 21 times without any discernible pauses in his whip action. The Stipendiary Stewards submitted that in their opinion, “that was too much”.
In response, Mr Houghton said that he did not dispute the Stewards' allegations that he used his whip in the manner described, and candidly admitted that he was in breach of the rule by using his whip in an excessive manner.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Houghton has admitted the breach, it is therefore deemed to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Wallis said that Mr Houghton was suspended for two race days at the Nelson Harness Racing Club’s meeting as recently as 7th June 2015. He also referred to the Judicial Control Authority’s Penalty Guide which provides for suspension of between 3 and 5 days for a second breach of the rule within a six month period. Mr Wallis said that Mr Houghton was getting an increasing number of drives for his employer, Mr R Dunn and had driven in approximately 40 races during the current season. Mr Wallis submitted that a suspension of 4 days should be imposed.
reasonsforpenalty:
For the purposes of imposing penalty, we have adopted as a starting point, a suspension of 4 race days.
Against our starting point, we take into account, aggravating and mitigating factors.
We do not consider that there are any particular factors by way of aggravation which would warrant an uplift on our starting point.
By way of mitigation, Mr Houghton has admitted the breach at the earliest opportunity, and although the number of strikes was excessive, we are satisfied from the video evidence that the strikes were not delivered with any great force. We will therefore allow a discount of 1 day on our starting point.
Mr Houghton has applied for a deferment of the commencement of the period of suspension. After hearing from Mr Houghton, we are satisfied that he has engagements for his employer, Mr R Dunn, at Addington on Friday 3rd July and at Timaru on Sunday 5th July. Therefore, his application for a deferment is granted.
In order to determine on which days the suspension will take effect, we are also satisfied that Mr Houghton does not drive further south than Timaru and accordingly a race day at Oamaru on Sunday 12th July, will not be taken into account.
penalty:
Mr Houghton is accordingly suspended from driving at the conclusion of racing on Sunday 5th July 2015 until the conclusion of racing on Sunday 19th July 2015. That period of suspension will encompass meetings at Addington on Friday 10th July, Addington on Thursday 16th July and Ashburton on Sunday 19th July 2015.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: Mr S Wallis - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr R Houghton - Licensed Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 9be13d685a291024abe8be280cc7df7d
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: 905839e719547c85d88185072630d989
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 28/06/2015
meet_title: Rangiora HRC - 28 June 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: rangiora-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: KHales
meet_pm1: RMcKenzie
meet_pm2: none
name: Rangiora HRC