Forbury Park TC 1 July 2011 – R 7 (instigating a protest 1)
ID: JCA15091
Meet Title:
Forbury Park TC - 1 July 2011
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
DSteel
Race Date:
2011/07/01
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
The protest is dismissed and the dividends and stakes are to be paid in accordance with the Judge’s placings.
Facts:
A protest was lodged by Mr Allison, stipendiary steward, after the running race of Race 7, alleging that with approximately 900 metres to run, VILLAGE ANVIL driven by Mr R May, broke with a resulting check to SIMPLY GENIUS, driven by Mr C Hanna, and that horse losing all chance.
Judges placings were:
1st - 2 Village Anvil
2nd - 7 Anita
3rd - 5 Courage Talks
4th - 12 Queenofthehop
Submissions for Decision:
Video footage of the incident from different angles was shown by Mr Allison. This shows VILLAGE ANVIL going off stride when leaving the home straight, causing the horse SIMPLY GENIUS, travelling on Mr May’s back to take evasive action by having to go inside the track markers for some 60 metres. SIMPLY GENIUS was restrained to the rear of the field and that horse’s chances were thus severely affected.
Leading up to VILLAGE ANVIL breaking, COURAGE TALKS driven by Mr Todd was immediately outside Mr May in the parked position, with HOLLY PATRON driven by Mr McLellan improving three wide and attempting to cross COURAGE TALKS.
Rounding the bend out of the straight, the general consensus of all affected drivers was that racing was in tight quarters.
Mr Hanna stated that he was travelling three back. Leaving the straight he saw Mr May’s horse gallop in front of him. He thought Mr May would move out, but he came back down pacing and held his line. Unfortunately by then the front legs of Mr Hanna’s horse were up on the inside of Mr May’s cart, leaving him no option but to go down inside the markers to avoid contact. He said he could see Mr May was racing in tight quarters but he could not see anything that contributed to the incident.
Mr McLellan’s view was that he was not able to cross very easily due to Mr Todd’s horse “taking on” his horse. He maintained that he never squeezed Mr Todd up, nor did he make any contact with Mr Todd’s horse. There was no yelling out from anyone on his inside, which would be expected if there had been significant tightening.
Mr Todd stated that his horse got quite keen when Mr McLellan came up outside him, which resulted in him deciding to hold his position, rather than hand up. Rounding the bend, Mr Todd said things got tight, there was a slight squeezing from his outside, and his cart briefly touched the outside rear leg of Mr May’s horse, resulting in that horse breaking. Mr Todd explained he was driving a new “American cart”, which was a little wider than the standard cart. It was Mr Todd’s contention that his wider cart contributed to the incident when the pressure came on him from outside.
Mr May said that his horse was in the trail and was also racing keenly on the bend. There was not a lot of room and his horse’s back leg suffered a “wee bit of contact” from Mr Todd’s cart. VILLAGE ANVIL was a “funny” horse to drive and other horses may not have galloped in these circumstances, but the horse did for a few strides before settling back into its gait. He said his horse may have moved out but he did not think so. He demonstrated on the video that Mr McLellan had not been able to cross immediately as he was intending and that very shortly after the incident Mr McLellan could be seen to have moved from 3 to 2 wide. He said this suggested Mr McLellan may have been placing pressure on Mr Todd.
In summing up Mr Allison stated that nothing was seen other than Mr May’s horse going off stride. Mr Allison further reinforced the fact that no one yelled out, something that he would have expected if drivers on the inside were in trouble.
Reasons for Decision:
In determining the cause of Mr May’s horse going off stride, the Committee is unable to obtain any assistance from viewing video footage from the three different angles which are available. This footage neither confirms nor negates the evidence heard from the drivers involved.
Contributing factors that have to considered are the manners of both Mr May’s and Mr Todd’s horses, tight racing quarters and the apparent issue with the width of Mr Todd’s cart.
The fact that no driver yelled out would also suggest that nothing other than the above combination of facts were the cause of the incident and that no one horse or horseman was solely to blame for the interference to SIMPLY GENIUS.
There is no doubt that Mr Hanna’s horse has lost its chance as a result of VILLAGE ANVIL breaking but we are unable to hold that it is established to the necessary standard that that horse broke of its own accord.
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: a4fc4cfbf7eeff8c12726b2bc7e8025d
informantnumber: 13738
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 23/06/2011
hearing_title: Forbury Park TC 1 July 2011 - R 7 (instigating a protest 1)
charge:
facts:
A protest was lodged by Mr Allison, stipendiary steward, after the running race of Race 7, alleging that with approximately 900 metres to run, VILLAGE ANVIL driven by Mr R May, broke with a resulting check to SIMPLY GENIUS, driven by Mr C Hanna, and that horse losing all chance.
Judges placings were:
1st - 2 Village Anvil
2nd - 7 Anita
3rd - 5 Courage Talks
4th - 12 Queenofthehop
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Video footage of the incident from different angles was shown by Mr Allison. This shows VILLAGE ANVIL going off stride when leaving the home straight, causing the horse SIMPLY GENIUS, travelling on Mr May’s back to take evasive action by having to go inside the track markers for some 60 metres. SIMPLY GENIUS was restrained to the rear of the field and that horse’s chances were thus severely affected.
Leading up to VILLAGE ANVIL breaking, COURAGE TALKS driven by Mr Todd was immediately outside Mr May in the parked position, with HOLLY PATRON driven by Mr McLellan improving three wide and attempting to cross COURAGE TALKS.
Rounding the bend out of the straight, the general consensus of all affected drivers was that racing was in tight quarters.
Mr Hanna stated that he was travelling three back. Leaving the straight he saw Mr May’s horse gallop in front of him. He thought Mr May would move out, but he came back down pacing and held his line. Unfortunately by then the front legs of Mr Hanna’s horse were up on the inside of Mr May’s cart, leaving him no option but to go down inside the markers to avoid contact. He said he could see Mr May was racing in tight quarters but he could not see anything that contributed to the incident.
Mr McLellan’s view was that he was not able to cross very easily due to Mr Todd’s horse “taking on” his horse. He maintained that he never squeezed Mr Todd up, nor did he make any contact with Mr Todd’s horse. There was no yelling out from anyone on his inside, which would be expected if there had been significant tightening.
Mr Todd stated that his horse got quite keen when Mr McLellan came up outside him, which resulted in him deciding to hold his position, rather than hand up. Rounding the bend, Mr Todd said things got tight, there was a slight squeezing from his outside, and his cart briefly touched the outside rear leg of Mr May’s horse, resulting in that horse breaking. Mr Todd explained he was driving a new “American cart”, which was a little wider than the standard cart. It was Mr Todd’s contention that his wider cart contributed to the incident when the pressure came on him from outside.
Mr May said that his horse was in the trail and was also racing keenly on the bend. There was not a lot of room and his horse’s back leg suffered a “wee bit of contact” from Mr Todd’s cart. VILLAGE ANVIL was a “funny” horse to drive and other horses may not have galloped in these circumstances, but the horse did for a few strides before settling back into its gait. He said his horse may have moved out but he did not think so. He demonstrated on the video that Mr McLellan had not been able to cross immediately as he was intending and that very shortly after the incident Mr McLellan could be seen to have moved from 3 to 2 wide. He said this suggested Mr McLellan may have been placing pressure on Mr Todd.
In summing up Mr Allison stated that nothing was seen other than Mr May’s horse going off stride. Mr Allison further reinforced the fact that no one yelled out, something that he would have expected if drivers on the inside were in trouble.
reasonsfordecision:
In determining the cause of Mr May’s horse going off stride, the Committee is unable to obtain any assistance from viewing video footage from the three different angles which are available. This footage neither confirms nor negates the evidence heard from the drivers involved.
Contributing factors that have to considered are the manners of both Mr May’s and Mr Todd’s horses, tight racing quarters and the apparent issue with the width of Mr Todd’s cart.
The fact that no driver yelled out would also suggest that nothing other than the above combination of facts were the cause of the incident and that no one horse or horseman was solely to blame for the interference to SIMPLY GENIUS.
There is no doubt that Mr Hanna’s horse has lost its chance as a result of VILLAGE ANVIL breaking but we are unable to hold that it is established to the necessary standard that that horse broke of its own accord.
Decision:
The protest is dismissed and the dividends and stakes are to be paid in accordance with the Judge’s placings.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Protest
Rules: 869(8)(b)
Informant: Mr C Allison - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr B McLellan, Mr C Hanna, Mr R Todd
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 216219d93815f86d42e58a51adf7c867
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: ea43f1f4ce1fce2a211e5c125da48cb9
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 01/07/2011
meet_title: Forbury Park TC - 1 July 2011
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: forbury-park-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: DSteel
meet_pm2: none
name: Forbury Park TC