Franklin TC 25 May 2012 – R 3
ID: JCA15910
Meet Title:
Franklin TC - 25 May 2012
Meet Chair:
GJones
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Race Date:
2012/05/25
Race Number:
R 3
Decision:
The breach is admitted and is therefore proved.
Penalty:
Having taken all matters into account we impose a penalty of $250.
Charge:
The information alleged that “Junior Horseman S Abernethy drove Brydon Delight in a manner likely to cause interference to his own horse when attempting to improve outward inside Regal Encounter (V Langdon) rounding the final bend”.
Mr Abernethy (J) endorsed the information “I do wish to be present”. He attended the hearing and was assisted by Senior Horseman Mr J Stormont.
Facts:
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident by way of available head and side-on video footage. He told the Judicial Committee (the ‘Committee’) that Mr Abernethy was the driver of Brydon Delight. He said that at about the 600m mark in the race Brydon Delight was travelling three back on the marker line and Regal Encounter, driven by Mr V Langdon (J) was positioned on his outside.
Mr Muirhead told the Committee that Mr Abernethy attempted to move outward, inside of Regal Encounter at about the 400m mark. In doing so Brydon Delight made contact with the sulky and hind leg of Regal Encounter. In response Mr Langdon eased and allowed Mr Abernethy to continue his outward movement to avoid any further interference.
Mr Abernethy confirmed that he agreed with Mr Muirhead's assessment of the incident and submitted that he made a bad decision. This was supported by Mr Stormont who told the Committee that Mr Abernethy simply made a mistake.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead submitted that the JCA guidelines establish a starting point for a breach of this nature at 8 drives or $400 fine. He said that Mr Abernethy has not previously breached this rule within the past 12 months and he submitted that the breach should be assessed as mid-to high range in terms of severity.
Mr Muirhead further submitted that Mr Abernethy should be given credit for his early admission of the breach and that as a Junior Horseman he usually has about 20 drives per year.
Mr Abernethy submitted that he has low earning capacity as a Junior Horseman and had nothing further to add.
Mr Stormont submitted that Mr Abernethy’s lack of experience should be taken into account when assessing penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
The committee independently reviewed the breach and determined that Mr Langdon (J) took positive action by easing his horse and thus avoided further interference. Had he not done so the interference caused by Mr Abernethy may well have been more severe. We have assessed the breach as mid to high range.
In assessing penalty we have taken into account the submissions of both the Informant and Defendant and we have also considered the Penalty Guidelines for Committees as well as recent penalties for similar breaches.
We have given Mr Abernethy credit for his early admission and good driving record.
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: e39f5dc5e7c7b2926ea37cd19e6bc429
informantnumber: 4620
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 24/05/2012
hearing_title: Franklin TC 25 May 2012 - R 3
charge:
The information alleged that “Junior Horseman S Abernethy drove Brydon Delight in a manner likely to cause interference to his own horse when attempting to improve outward inside Regal Encounter (V Langdon) rounding the final bend”.
Mr Abernethy (J) endorsed the information “I do wish to be present”. He attended the hearing and was assisted by Senior Horseman Mr J Stormont.
facts:
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident by way of available head and side-on video footage. He told the Judicial Committee (the ‘Committee’) that Mr Abernethy was the driver of Brydon Delight. He said that at about the 600m mark in the race Brydon Delight was travelling three back on the marker line and Regal Encounter, driven by Mr V Langdon (J) was positioned on his outside.
Mr Muirhead told the Committee that Mr Abernethy attempted to move outward, inside of Regal Encounter at about the 400m mark. In doing so Brydon Delight made contact with the sulky and hind leg of Regal Encounter. In response Mr Langdon eased and allowed Mr Abernethy to continue his outward movement to avoid any further interference.
Mr Abernethy confirmed that he agreed with Mr Muirhead's assessment of the incident and submitted that he made a bad decision. This was supported by Mr Stormont who told the Committee that Mr Abernethy simply made a mistake.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
The breach is admitted and is therefore proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead submitted that the JCA guidelines establish a starting point for a breach of this nature at 8 drives or $400 fine. He said that Mr Abernethy has not previously breached this rule within the past 12 months and he submitted that the breach should be assessed as mid-to high range in terms of severity.
Mr Muirhead further submitted that Mr Abernethy should be given credit for his early admission of the breach and that as a Junior Horseman he usually has about 20 drives per year.
Mr Abernethy submitted that he has low earning capacity as a Junior Horseman and had nothing further to add.
Mr Stormont submitted that Mr Abernethy’s lack of experience should be taken into account when assessing penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
The committee independently reviewed the breach and determined that Mr Langdon (J) took positive action by easing his horse and thus avoided further interference. Had he not done so the interference caused by Mr Abernethy may well have been more severe. We have assessed the breach as mid to high range.
In assessing penalty we have taken into account the submissions of both the Informant and Defendant and we have also considered the Penalty Guidelines for Committees as well as recent penalties for similar breaches.
We have given Mr Abernethy credit for his early admission and good driving record.
penalty:
Having taken all matters into account we impose a penalty of $250.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(4)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Abernethy - Junior Horseman, Mr J Stormont - Senior Horseman assisting Mr Abernethy
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 08506366c4bb14fa6429c3d78de72507
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: aa773f8d35063860a321684908703281
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 25/05/2012
meet_title: Franklin TC - 25 May 2012
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: franklin-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GJones
meet_pm1: ADooley
meet_pm2: none
name: Franklin TC