Auckland TC 10 June 2016 – R 8 – Chair, Mr B Scott
ID: JCA16457
Meet Title:
Auckland TC - 10 June 2016
Meet Chair:
BScott
Meet Committee Member 1:
AGodsalve
Race Date:
2016/06/10
Race Number:
R8
Decision:
The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is upheld.
Penalty:
The Committee imposes a suspension of Mr Stormont's Driving Licence from the conclusion of racing tonight up to and including the conclusion of racing on the 1st of July 2016. The meetings involved are Auckland Trotting Club meetings on the 17th and 24th of June and the 1st day of July 2016.
Facts:
Following the running of the ARTHUR CROSS MEMORIAL MOBILE PACE an Information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr JM Muirhead against Open Horseman Mr JP Stormont alleging that Mr Stormont used his whip in an unnecessary manner when out of contention over the concluding stages of the race when driving KUSIMA.
Rule 869(2)(a) provides that : no horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary , excessive or improper manner.
Mr Stormont was present at the Hearing and he acknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the charge.
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident by use of the race films and showed where KUSIMA was at the rear of the field leaving the back straight and did not appear to be keeping up with the field. He showed where Mr Stormont used his whip twice on his horse and there was virtually no response and he then used it a further 5 times on his horse and it continued to drop out. Mr Muirhead said that the films clearly showed that KUSIMA was out of contention when Mr Stormont continued to use the whip. He said that this was unnecessary use of the whip and as far as the Stewards were concerned it was an animal welfare issue.
Mr Stormont said he counted 4 strikes with the whip. He said he thought the horse would run in the money and he struck it twice initially to get it to compete. He had pulled the plugs then he said he used the whip again because he was frustrated with his horse .
Mr Muirhead said he only counted clear strokes of the whip on the horse's rump. He said that the horse had weakened out and was gone with 600 metres to run.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead referred to Mr Stormont's record under this Rule which included a prior warning by the Stewards and a charge of excessive use of the whip in February 2016. He referred to the JCA Guidelines and said that the staring point penalty was a $500.00 fine or suspension of Licence for 2 days.
The Committee pointed out to Mr Muirhead and Mr Stormont that for a second breach of this Rule within 6 months the starting point penalty is a suspension of Licence for 3 to 5 days.
Mr Stormont said he thought that 1 to 2 days suspension was fair. He also advised the Committee that he was not driving at the Waikato HRC meeting in 2 days time and he did not want a deferment of his suspension.
Reasons for Penalty:
The breach has been admitted by Mr Stormont and the race films show the incident very clearly. KUSIMA was weakening at the 600 metres mark when Mr Stormont first used his whip and after that it began to drop further away. Using the whip was , in the Committee's view , unnecessary and this has been acknowledged by Mr Stormont by his admission of the breach.
In assessing penalty we have used the starting point penalty in the JCA Guidelines for a second breach in 6 months. Mr Stormont's charge of excessive use of the whip in February of this year also came under Rule 869(2)(a).
We are concerned about animal welfare and believe that a suspension of Mr Stormont's Licence for at least 3 days is entirely appropriate.
We have not taken the upcoming Harness Racing Waikato meeting into account when calculating the length of the suspension because firstly drivers have been declared for that meeting and secondly Mr Stormont has advised us that he is not driving there.
We believe that a 4 day suspension might have been appropriate but we have given Mr Stormont credit for his admission of the breach and accordingly will impose a 3 day suspension.
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: b783397773998b7eb1892bd83be08d8a
informantnumber: A7446
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Unnecessary use of Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 16/06/2016
hearing_title: Auckland TC 10 June 2016 - R 8 - Chair, Mr B Scott
charge:
facts:
Following the running of the ARTHUR CROSS MEMORIAL MOBILE PACE an Information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr JM Muirhead against Open Horseman Mr JP Stormont alleging that Mr Stormont used his whip in an unnecessary manner when out of contention over the concluding stages of the race when driving KUSIMA.
Rule 869(2)(a) provides that : no horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary , excessive or improper manner.
Mr Stormont was present at the Hearing and he acknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the charge.
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident by use of the race films and showed where KUSIMA was at the rear of the field leaving the back straight and did not appear to be keeping up with the field. He showed where Mr Stormont used his whip twice on his horse and there was virtually no response and he then used it a further 5 times on his horse and it continued to drop out. Mr Muirhead said that the films clearly showed that KUSIMA was out of contention when Mr Stormont continued to use the whip. He said that this was unnecessary use of the whip and as far as the Stewards were concerned it was an animal welfare issue.
Mr Stormont said he counted 4 strikes with the whip. He said he thought the horse would run in the money and he struck it twice initially to get it to compete. He had pulled the plugs then he said he used the whip again because he was frustrated with his horse .
Mr Muirhead said he only counted clear strokes of the whip on the horse's rump. He said that the horse had weakened out and was gone with 600 metres to run.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is upheld.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead referred to Mr Stormont's record under this Rule which included a prior warning by the Stewards and a charge of excessive use of the whip in February 2016. He referred to the JCA Guidelines and said that the staring point penalty was a $500.00 fine or suspension of Licence for 2 days.
The Committee pointed out to Mr Muirhead and Mr Stormont that for a second breach of this Rule within 6 months the starting point penalty is a suspension of Licence for 3 to 5 days.
Mr Stormont said he thought that 1 to 2 days suspension was fair. He also advised the Committee that he was not driving at the Waikato HRC meeting in 2 days time and he did not want a deferment of his suspension.
reasonsforpenalty:
The breach has been admitted by Mr Stormont and the race films show the incident very clearly. KUSIMA was weakening at the 600 metres mark when Mr Stormont first used his whip and after that it began to drop further away. Using the whip was , in the Committee's view , unnecessary and this has been acknowledged by Mr Stormont by his admission of the breach.
In assessing penalty we have used the starting point penalty in the JCA Guidelines for a second breach in 6 months. Mr Stormont's charge of excessive use of the whip in February of this year also came under Rule 869(2)(a).
We are concerned about animal welfare and believe that a suspension of Mr Stormont's Licence for at least 3 days is entirely appropriate.
We have not taken the upcoming Harness Racing Waikato meeting into account when calculating the length of the suspension because firstly drivers have been declared for that meeting and secondly Mr Stormont has advised us that he is not driving there.
We believe that a 4 day suspension might have been appropriate but we have given Mr Stormont credit for his admission of the breach and accordingly will impose a 3 day suspension.
penalty:
The Committee imposes a suspension of Mr Stormont's Driving Licence from the conclusion of racing tonight up to and including the conclusion of racing on the 1st of July 2016. The meetings involved are Auckland Trotting Club meetings on the 17th and 24th of June and the 1st day of July 2016.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(2)(A)
Informant: Mr J M Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr J P Stormont - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 6d79aafb87b3a6f77a97730bc80cee7e
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: 9df1257ba199674c6733314bc992f2e4
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 10/06/2016
meet_title: Auckland TC - 10 June 2016
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: auckland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: BScott
meet_pm1: AGodsalve
meet_pm2: none
name: Auckland TC