Northern Southland HRC 14 January 2016 – R 6 – Chair, Prof G Hall
ID: JCA15976
Meet Title:
Northern Southland TC - 14 January 2016
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
VMUnro
Race Date:
2016/01/14
Race Number:
R 6
Decision:
As Mr Armour has admitted the charge, we find it proved.
Penalty:
We give greatest weight to this last factor, and impose a penalty of a fine of $375 and remind Mr Armour of his professional obligations.
Facts:
Mr Allison alleged that Mr Armour allowed MACARDO to shift inwards when not clear of ZENMACH (Mr M Williamson) which broke causing interference to several other runners passing the 500 metres.
Mr Allison demonstrated on the videos that coming off the back straight the respondent was improving to the parked position. ZENMACH was in the trail. He demonstrated that MACARDO was hanging as Mr Armour pressed the horse forward with the whip. At the point of the turn MACARDO shifted inwards causing ZENMACH to break. Several horses were hindered as a result of the incident.
Mr Allison observed that MACARDO had a tendency to hang and pointed out its head was sideways when it was improving 3 wide. He also pointed out that at the point of the bend the respondent was urging MACARDO forward with the right rein loose and had tapped the horse up prior to it running in. He said the respondent did take corrective action by pulling on the right rein, but it was “too little, too late”.
Mr Armour stated that Mr Allison’s description of events when he came up 3 wide was accurate. He said he saw his horse was getting in and he sent it up because the horse sitting parked was “all done”. He said Mr Williamson’s horse, ZENMACH, was under severe pressure before he came in. He said his horse had made a sharp abrupt inwards movement when he had tapped it on the dock of its tail. He said he had tapped the horse with the left rein to try to correct it. But he was too late and his inside wheel had come into contact with the off front leg of ZENMACH. He said Mr Williamson had been yelling, not at him, but rather at his horse in an attempt to get it to keep up.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Allison produced the respondent’s record, which was clear under any rule for both this and last season. Mr Armour had 234 drives last season and has had 57 this. Mr Allison described this record as excellent.
Mr Allison described the breach as mid range, Mr Armour had failed to make a concerted effort to keep his horse off ZENMACH when he knew MACARDO was hanging.
The Penalty Guide recommended a starting point of $500 or 10 drives. He believed after consideration was given to record and admission of the breach, that a fine of $400 was appropriate.
Reasons for Penalty:
Mr Armour has allowed his horse MACARDO to roll in as it was improving to the parked position when coming off the back straight the last time. This was a vital point in the race and the respondent was aware his horse was hanging. We do not accept the respondent’s statement that the horse had “ducked in”. The movement was more gradual than this and was immediately after he had tapped the horse up. The consequence was there was contact with Mr Williamson’s horse, which broke, and disrupted the field. Some 5 horses in addition to ZENMACH, which we accept was tiring, had their chances affected to varying degrees. For these reasons, we believe the breach is correctly described as at the high end of mid range and we uplift our starting point to $600.
Significant mitigating factors are the respondent’s co-operation with the Stipendiary Stewards, his frank admission of the breach, and his excellent record — no breaches of the Rules in 2 seasons.
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: aa44f4361890f5271c07321afde2c639
informantnumber: 6624
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 18/01/2016
hearing_title: Northern Southland HRC 14 January 2016 - R 6 - Chair, Prof G Hall
charge:
facts:
Mr Allison alleged that Mr Armour allowed MACARDO to shift inwards when not clear of ZENMACH (Mr M Williamson) which broke causing interference to several other runners passing the 500 metres.
Mr Allison demonstrated on the videos that coming off the back straight the respondent was improving to the parked position. ZENMACH was in the trail. He demonstrated that MACARDO was hanging as Mr Armour pressed the horse forward with the whip. At the point of the turn MACARDO shifted inwards causing ZENMACH to break. Several horses were hindered as a result of the incident.
Mr Allison observed that MACARDO had a tendency to hang and pointed out its head was sideways when it was improving 3 wide. He also pointed out that at the point of the bend the respondent was urging MACARDO forward with the right rein loose and had tapped the horse up prior to it running in. He said the respondent did take corrective action by pulling on the right rein, but it was “too little, too late”.
Mr Armour stated that Mr Allison’s description of events when he came up 3 wide was accurate. He said he saw his horse was getting in and he sent it up because the horse sitting parked was “all done”. He said Mr Williamson’s horse, ZENMACH, was under severe pressure before he came in. He said his horse had made a sharp abrupt inwards movement when he had tapped it on the dock of its tail. He said he had tapped the horse with the left rein to try to correct it. But he was too late and his inside wheel had come into contact with the off front leg of ZENMACH. He said Mr Williamson had been yelling, not at him, but rather at his horse in an attempt to get it to keep up.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Armour has admitted the charge, we find it proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Allison produced the respondent’s record, which was clear under any rule for both this and last season. Mr Armour had 234 drives last season and has had 57 this. Mr Allison described this record as excellent.
Mr Allison described the breach as mid range, Mr Armour had failed to make a concerted effort to keep his horse off ZENMACH when he knew MACARDO was hanging.
The Penalty Guide recommended a starting point of $500 or 10 drives. He believed after consideration was given to record and admission of the breach, that a fine of $400 was appropriate.
reasonsforpenalty:
Mr Armour has allowed his horse MACARDO to roll in as it was improving to the parked position when coming off the back straight the last time. This was a vital point in the race and the respondent was aware his horse was hanging. We do not accept the respondent’s statement that the horse had “ducked in”. The movement was more gradual than this and was immediately after he had tapped the horse up. The consequence was there was contact with Mr Williamson’s horse, which broke, and disrupted the field. Some 5 horses in addition to ZENMACH, which we accept was tiring, had their chances affected to varying degrees. For these reasons, we believe the breach is correctly described as at the high end of mid range and we uplift our starting point to $600.
Significant mitigating factors are the respondent’s co-operation with the Stipendiary Stewards, his frank admission of the breach, and his excellent record — no breaches of the Rules in 2 seasons.
penalty:
We give greatest weight to this last factor, and impose a penalty of a fine of $375 and remind Mr Armour of his professional obligations.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr C Allison - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr A Armour - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 9b072e018f821a51a8ad6dfb7d1b7811
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 6
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 044a4f69e195a6eb9374628193d104a7
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 14/01/2016
meet_title: Northern Southland TC - 14 January 2016
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: northern-southland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: VMUnro
meet_pm2: none
name: Northern Southland TC