Waikouaiti RC 1 January 2014 – R 3
ID: JCA15543
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Waikouaiti RC - 1 January 2014
Meet Chair:
PKnowles
Meet Committee Member 1:
GHall
Race Date:
2014/01/01
Race Number:
R 3
Decision:
As the breach was admitted we find the charge proved.
Penalty:
Mr Pitman is fined $400 and reminded of his obligations under the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing.
Facts:
Following the running of the OTAGO DAILY TIMES MAIDEN Mr Davidson lodged information alleging Mr Pitman presented COMMANDING OAK to race when the horse SETARIME was to race.
Mr Pitman admitted the charge and appeared at the hearing.
Rule 802 (1) (a) provides for the following:
(1) A person commits a breach of these Rules who:
(a) acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision of these Rules or any Regulation made thereunder, or any policy, notice, direction, instruction, guideline, restriction, requirement or condition given, made or imposed under these Rules:
Mr Davidson stated that during a brand check at the plating inspection it was found Mr Pitman had presented the wrong horse to race. COMMANDING OAK, a starter in Race 5, had been incorrectly presented. The correct horse should have been SETARIME. COMMANDING OAK was returned to the stable area and the correct horse SETARIME was then presented. He said Mr Pitman’s staff had made a genuine error and saddled the wrong horse for the race. He said the horse had been stopped at plating inspection and had not been presented into the birdcage or the track.
Mr Pitman said although he had not saddled the horse he was responsible for the error. It was a genuine mistake by a member of his staff and not intentional. He stated he had 31 horses at the track and due to the club’s very limited stable facilities (18 boxes in total) his staff were having to shuffle horses between boxes, yards and paddocks throughout the course of the meeting. It was a simple mistake of the wrong horse being saddled.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Davidson said Stewards viewed the incident as a simple mistake. The horse had been stopped early in the checking process and the correct horse had started. He said it was a credit to Mr Pitman that a similar incident had not occurred considering the large number of horses he has at meetings. There had been two similar breaches of this rule, both at Trials, where a $500 had been imposed. He sought a fine that reflected the seriousness of the offence.
Mr Pitman apologised to the Committee for the error and accepted that under the Rules he was responsible. He asked us to consider his financial position.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee took into account Mr Pitman’s early admission of the breach. We acknowledge the difficulties in having a large number of horses on course and that during the course of the day Mr Pitman’s staff were constantly having to shift horses between paddocks, yards and boxes. While presenting the wrong horse to race is a serious breach of the rule, the wrong horse never reached the birdcage or the track, as the error was found during the plating inspection. The correct horse did start in the race and there was no delay to the start of the race because of the breach. As a guide to setting a penalty the Committee has had regard to two previous breaches of the rule at Trials where a $500 fine was imposed in each case. However, we do not know the circumstances under which these breaches occurred. We have been unable to locate a similar case on raceday.
The Committee can only make a decision on the facts presented to us on the day. Given the particular and somewhat unusual circumstances of the breach, Mr Pitman’s genuine remorse at the error made, and that the correct horse did start, the Committee believes a monetary penalty towards the lower end of the scale is appropriate in this instance.
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: b044455b1def85827cc23a2795313b3e
informantnumber: A5795
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Presenting the wrong horse to race
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 02/01/2014
hearing_title: Waikouaiti RC 1 January 2014 - R 3
charge:
facts:
Following the running of the OTAGO DAILY TIMES MAIDEN Mr Davidson lodged information alleging Mr Pitman presented COMMANDING OAK to race when the horse SETARIME was to race.
Mr Pitman admitted the charge and appeared at the hearing.
Rule 802 (1) (a) provides for the following:
(1) A person commits a breach of these Rules who:
(a) acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision of these Rules or any Regulation made thereunder, or any policy, notice, direction, instruction, guideline, restriction, requirement or condition given, made or imposed under these Rules:
Mr Davidson stated that during a brand check at the plating inspection it was found Mr Pitman had presented the wrong horse to race. COMMANDING OAK, a starter in Race 5, had been incorrectly presented. The correct horse should have been SETARIME. COMMANDING OAK was returned to the stable area and the correct horse SETARIME was then presented. He said Mr Pitman’s staff had made a genuine error and saddled the wrong horse for the race. He said the horse had been stopped at plating inspection and had not been presented into the birdcage or the track.
Mr Pitman said although he had not saddled the horse he was responsible for the error. It was a genuine mistake by a member of his staff and not intentional. He stated he had 31 horses at the track and due to the club’s very limited stable facilities (18 boxes in total) his staff were having to shuffle horses between boxes, yards and paddocks throughout the course of the meeting. It was a simple mistake of the wrong horse being saddled.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As the breach was admitted we find the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Davidson said Stewards viewed the incident as a simple mistake. The horse had been stopped early in the checking process and the correct horse had started. He said it was a credit to Mr Pitman that a similar incident had not occurred considering the large number of horses he has at meetings. There had been two similar breaches of this rule, both at Trials, where a $500 had been imposed. He sought a fine that reflected the seriousness of the offence.
Mr Pitman apologised to the Committee for the error and accepted that under the Rules he was responsible. He asked us to consider his financial position.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee took into account Mr Pitman’s early admission of the breach. We acknowledge the difficulties in having a large number of horses on course and that during the course of the day Mr Pitman’s staff were constantly having to shift horses between paddocks, yards and boxes. While presenting the wrong horse to race is a serious breach of the rule, the wrong horse never reached the birdcage or the track, as the error was found during the plating inspection. The correct horse did start in the race and there was no delay to the start of the race because of the breach. As a guide to setting a penalty the Committee has had regard to two previous breaches of the rule at Trials where a $500 fine was imposed in each case. However, we do not know the circumstances under which these breaches occurred. We have been unable to locate a similar case on raceday.
The Committee can only make a decision on the facts presented to us on the day. Given the particular and somewhat unusual circumstances of the breach, Mr Pitman’s genuine remorse at the error made, and that the correct horse did start, the Committee believes a monetary penalty towards the lower end of the scale is appropriate in this instance.
penalty:
Mr Pitman is fined $400 and reminded of his obligations under the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 802(1)(a)
Informant: Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr M Pitman - Licensed Trainer
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 2471a21abe3b434f5de3fffd78363bcb
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 3
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 4dc986f5c1532970369da6ca3a0955a4
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 01/01/2014
meet_title: Waikouaiti RC - 1 January 2014
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: waikouaiti-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: PKnowles
meet_pm1: GHall
meet_pm2: none
name: Waikouaiti RC