Oamaru HRC 24 June 2012 – R 8 (instigating a protest)
ID: JCA15579
Meet Title:
Oamaru HRC - 24 June 2012
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
DSteel
Race Date:
2012/06/24
Race Number:
R8
Decision:
In these circumstances we exercise our discretion and uphold the protest.
Amended placings are:
1st 14 FLYING COURAGE
2ND 3 HOLLY ELIZABETH
3rd 6 LADY NOVEMBER
4th 12 WHENDABOYSLITEUP
5th 11 BECKY’S BABY
Payment of stakes and dividends is authorised accordingly.
Facts:
At the conclusion of Race 8, an information instigating a protest by horse number 15, SUNNY JEWEL placed 7th by the Judge, against horse number 13, TOWER OF SONG, placed 2nd, was lodged by Mr Wallis under rule 869(8)(b) alleging interference when TOWER OF SONG broke and ran out on to SUNNY JEWEL.
Judges placings were:
1st 14 FLYING COURAGE
2ND 13 TOWER OF SONG
3rd 3 HOLLY ELIZABETH
4th 6 LADY NOVEMBER
5th 12 WHENDABOYSLITEUP
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Wallis showed this committee a video of the horses racing at approximately the 1400 metres mark. He pointed out that TOWER OF SONG, which was racing at the front of the field broke. Ms Wakelin who was racing one out and behind TOWER OF SONG, grabbed hold of her horse to go inside TOWER OF SONG and her horse broke and galloped for some 100 metres.
Ms Wakelin gave evidence that she was travelling “well enough” at the time. She said she had initially attempted to move wider on the track as she thought TOWER OF SONG would come back through the field, but when Mr Hope moved TOWER OF SONG wider on the track she had taken hold of SUNNY JEWEL quite abruptly to move inside the galloping TOWER OF SONG. She said SUNNY JEWEL had struck herself as a result of this sudden change of direction and had galloped. In reply to a question from Mr Hope, she confirmed there was no contact between the 2 horses. She also confirmed to this committee that the only reason she had to change direction was because TOWER OF SONG had galloped.
Mr Hope said SUNNY JEWEL should not have galloped as he believed it was clear that he was going to move wider on the track to get out of the way of the field. Ms Wakelin, in his view, should have simply kept her line. He said the performance of TOWER OF SONG to finish 2nd was massive and to relegate it would be to do an injustice to the horse.
Reasons for Decision:
We are satisfied the only reason SUNNY JEWEL galloped was through Ms Wakelin having to take evasive action to avoid TOWER OF SONG, which had gone into a gallop. It is unfortunate that she chose to move wider on the track almost simultaneously with Mr Hope taking a similar action with TOWER OF SONG. We agree with Mr Hope that his obligation is to take a galloping horse clear of the field if he can do so safely. However, it was the abrupt movement of Ms Wakelin to pull her horse to the inside of TOWER OF SONG, which was coming back on to her, that led to SUNNY JEWEL breaking and losing all chance.
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: b6955b7d0d538c60fd4999f9ca528cb8
informantnumber: 5619
horsename: Tower of Song
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 15/06/2012
hearing_title: Oamaru HRC 24 June 2012 - R 8 (instigating a protest)
charge:
facts:
At the conclusion of Race 8, an information instigating a protest by horse number 15, SUNNY JEWEL placed 7th by the Judge, against horse number 13, TOWER OF SONG, placed 2nd, was lodged by Mr Wallis under rule 869(8)(b) alleging interference when TOWER OF SONG broke and ran out on to SUNNY JEWEL.
Judges placings were:
1st 14 FLYING COURAGE
2ND 13 TOWER OF SONG
3rd 3 HOLLY ELIZABETH
4th 6 LADY NOVEMBER
5th 12 WHENDABOYSLITEUP
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Wallis showed this committee a video of the horses racing at approximately the 1400 metres mark. He pointed out that TOWER OF SONG, which was racing at the front of the field broke. Ms Wakelin who was racing one out and behind TOWER OF SONG, grabbed hold of her horse to go inside TOWER OF SONG and her horse broke and galloped for some 100 metres.
Ms Wakelin gave evidence that she was travelling “well enough” at the time. She said she had initially attempted to move wider on the track as she thought TOWER OF SONG would come back through the field, but when Mr Hope moved TOWER OF SONG wider on the track she had taken hold of SUNNY JEWEL quite abruptly to move inside the galloping TOWER OF SONG. She said SUNNY JEWEL had struck herself as a result of this sudden change of direction and had galloped. In reply to a question from Mr Hope, she confirmed there was no contact between the 2 horses. She also confirmed to this committee that the only reason she had to change direction was because TOWER OF SONG had galloped.
Mr Hope said SUNNY JEWEL should not have galloped as he believed it was clear that he was going to move wider on the track to get out of the way of the field. Ms Wakelin, in his view, should have simply kept her line. He said the performance of TOWER OF SONG to finish 2nd was massive and to relegate it would be to do an injustice to the horse.
reasonsfordecision:
We are satisfied the only reason SUNNY JEWEL galloped was through Ms Wakelin having to take evasive action to avoid TOWER OF SONG, which had gone into a gallop. It is unfortunate that she chose to move wider on the track almost simultaneously with Mr Hope taking a similar action with TOWER OF SONG. We agree with Mr Hope that his obligation is to take a galloping horse clear of the field if he can do so safely. However, it was the abrupt movement of Ms Wakelin to pull her horse to the inside of TOWER OF SONG, which was coming back on to her, that led to SUNNY JEWEL breaking and losing all chance.
Decision:
In these circumstances we exercise our discretion and uphold the protest.
Amended placings are:
1st 14 FLYING COURAGE
2ND 3 HOLLY ELIZABETH
3rd 6 LADY NOVEMBER
4th 12 WHENDABOYSLITEUP
5th 11 BECKY’S BABY
Payment of stakes and dividends is authorised accordingly.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Protest
Rules: 869(8)(b)
Informant: Mr S Wallis, Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr G Hope Driver of TOWER OF SONG Ms P Wakelin Driver of SUNNY JEWEL
Respondent: Mr G Hope Driver of TOWER OF SONG
StipendSteward:
raceid: 84d4b5232c5475e760b034f28a37bd1c
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R8
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: d6e916ed3a3573d212c5486021ae88d3
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 24/06/2012
meet_title: Oamaru HRC - 24 June 2012
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: oamaru-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: DSteel
meet_pm2: none
name: Oamaru HRC