Waikato BOP H 18 January 2020 – R 2 – Chair, Mr A Dooley
ID: JCA16982
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 18 January 2020
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
BScott
Race Date:
2020/01/18
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
As Ms Wigg admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
Penalty:
Ms C Wigg was fined $250.
Facts:
Following the running of race 2, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 869(3). The Informant. Mr S Mulcay alleged that Ms C Wigg, drove A BETTER DANCER carelessly near the 600 metres when crossing to the lead when insufficiently clear of BETTER THAN MOST (N Munro) contacting its front leg.
Ms C Wigg said that she understood the Rule and confirmed she admitted the breach.
Rule 869(3)(b) provides: No driver in any race shall drive:- (b) carelessly.
Mr Mulcay demonstrated the incident using the available video footage. He identified that Ms Wigg directed A BETTER DANCER inwards near the 600 metres when crossing to the lead. As a result the sulky wheel of A BETTER DANCER contacted the front leg of BETTER THAN MOST. In doing so that runner paced roughly for a stride. He added that Ms Wigg has an obligation to shift ground safely.
Ms Wigg said that she accepted Mr Mulcay’s evidence and added she thought she was clear when crossing to the lead at the 600 metres.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay produced Ms Wigg’s record which showed no breaches under this Rule from 10 drives this season. He said the JCA Penalty Guide starting point was a suspension of 10 drives or a $500 fine. He said to Ms Wigg’s credit was her admission of the breach, her clear record and the interference was minimal. He submitted that a 2 day suspension and a modest fine could be considered for penalty.
Ms Wigg advised the Committee that there were Amateur Driver races programmed for Addington on 24 January and Rotorua on 26 January.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
The Committee accepted the JCA Penalty Guide starting point of a 10 drives suspension of a $500 fine.
We deemed that it would be appropriate to adopt a $500 fine as the starting point. We believe that a 2 day suspension would not act as a meaningful penalty given Ms Wigg’s Amateur Driver status coupled with the fact she has had only 10 drives to date this season.
When viewing the video footage it was evident that Ms Wigg directed A BETTER DANCER inwards when not sufficiently clear of BETTER THAN MOST. As a result the sulky wheel of A BETTER DANCER contacted the front leg of BETTER THAN MOST. The impact was slight and we deemed the level of carelessness to be low range.
There were no aggravating factors.
Mitigating factors were Ms Wigg’s admission of the breach, clear record from limited drives and the incident was very minor. For these collective factors we applied a reduction from the starting point.
After taking into account all matters the Committee considered a $250 fine was an appropriate penalty.
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: bcdb8c2d49ccd63b8e496ef6372bac68
informantnumber: A12235
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 18/01/2020
hearing_title: Waikato BOP H 18 January 2020 - R 2 - Chair, Mr A Dooley
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 2, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 869(3). The Informant. Mr S Mulcay alleged that Ms C Wigg, drove A BETTER DANCER carelessly near the 600 metres when crossing to the lead when insufficiently clear of BETTER THAN MOST (N Munro) contacting its front leg.
Ms C Wigg said that she understood the Rule and confirmed she admitted the breach.
Rule 869(3)(b) provides: No driver in any race shall drive:- (b) carelessly.
Mr Mulcay demonstrated the incident using the available video footage. He identified that Ms Wigg directed A BETTER DANCER inwards near the 600 metres when crossing to the lead. As a result the sulky wheel of A BETTER DANCER contacted the front leg of BETTER THAN MOST. In doing so that runner paced roughly for a stride. He added that Ms Wigg has an obligation to shift ground safely.
Ms Wigg said that she accepted Mr Mulcay’s evidence and added she thought she was clear when crossing to the lead at the 600 metres.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Ms Wigg admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay produced Ms Wigg’s record which showed no breaches under this Rule from 10 drives this season. He said the JCA Penalty Guide starting point was a suspension of 10 drives or a $500 fine. He said to Ms Wigg’s credit was her admission of the breach, her clear record and the interference was minimal. He submitted that a 2 day suspension and a modest fine could be considered for penalty.
Ms Wigg advised the Committee that there were Amateur Driver races programmed for Addington on 24 January and Rotorua on 26 January.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
The Committee accepted the JCA Penalty Guide starting point of a 10 drives suspension of a $500 fine.
We deemed that it would be appropriate to adopt a $500 fine as the starting point. We believe that a 2 day suspension would not act as a meaningful penalty given Ms Wigg’s Amateur Driver status coupled with the fact she has had only 10 drives to date this season.
When viewing the video footage it was evident that Ms Wigg directed A BETTER DANCER inwards when not sufficiently clear of BETTER THAN MOST. As a result the sulky wheel of A BETTER DANCER contacted the front leg of BETTER THAN MOST. The impact was slight and we deemed the level of carelessness to be low range.
There were no aggravating factors.
Mitigating factors were Ms Wigg’s admission of the breach, clear record from limited drives and the incident was very minor. For these collective factors we applied a reduction from the starting point.
After taking into account all matters the Committee considered a $250 fine was an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
Ms C Wigg was fined $250.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Ms C Wigg - Amateur Driver
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 3cc1b3468d9b0e72e2a48f3437aae19b
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: cd186e51cb2ca3128a846adf5f492cdd
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 18/01/2020
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 18 January 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: ADooley
meet_pm1: BScott
meet_pm2: none
name: Harness Racing Waikato