Manawatu RC 23 December 2017 – R 6 – Chair, Mrs N Moffatt
ID: JCA17757
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Manawatu RC - 23 December 2017
Meet Chair:
NMoffatt
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2017/12/23
Race Number:
R 6
Decision:
As Mr McKay admitted the breach the charge was found to be proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly Mr McKay is suspended from the close of racing on Wednesday December 28th up to and including racing on Saturday January 6th. In addition he is fined the sum of $750.
Facts:
Following Race 6 (Group 3 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup), Mr Oatham lodged an information with the Judicial Committee alleging a breach of Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) in that jockey S McKay used his whip excessively prior to the 100m.
Rule 638(3) (b) (ii) provides: A Rider shall not:
(ii) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is excessive
The “Guidelines with Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provide:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3) (b) a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jump-out a horse may be struck with the drawn whip up to five times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of five strides before striking the horse again with the drawn whip, with this restriction to apply prior to the final 100 metres. The whip may then be used at the rider’s discretion until the winning post is reached.
Prior to the final 600 metres of a race, official trial or jump-out the use of the drawn whip is acceptable if used in moderation and not continually.
Mr Oatham began counting the total number of whip strikes from approximately the 300m using both side-on and head-on videos. He calculated there was a total of 14 strikes with some pauses, but none of the required five strides.
Mr S McKay did not dispute the Stewards’ calculation but said he believed he may have hit the horse on his fifth stride.
Mr P McKay accepted that his son had ridden outside of the guidelines but said that he was not using the whip aggressively, he was just not getting the pauses right in between.
Mr P McKay expressed some frustration that if a rider rode to the guidelines (5 on followed by 5 off), from the top of the straight, they could easily hit a horse more times than his son had done today.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Oatham produced Mr McKay’s record since August 1st this year:
26/8/17 - $400 (above midrange)
13/9/17 - $500 (below midrange)
11/11/17 - 6 day suspension (9 strikes)
Mr Oatham said this was Mr McKay’s 4th breach of the whip rule since August and today’s breach was compounded by the high number of strikes (14). In addition the race was of Group 3 status and Mr McKay went on to win the race. Mr Oatham said that a clear message needed to be sent to other riders that it was not acceptable to breach the rule just because it was a big race.
Mr Oatham submitted that because Mr McKay benefited by winning the race the Committee could consider a monetary penalty in addition to a suspension of not less than 10 days.
Mr McKay advised of riding commitments through until Wednesday December 27th. He had nothing further to add other than ask for clarification as to the winning margin (long neck).
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee had regard to all submissions.
The updated starting points for breaches of Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) are:
1st breach $300
2nd breach $500
3rd or subsequent breach 6-8 national riding day suspension
Mr McKay’s record of excessive whip use is of concern to this Committee. We adopted a starting point of 8 national riding days.
Aggravating factors were the high number of strikes and the Group 3 status of the race with a $100,000 stake.
We did not afford Mr McKay any discount for his apprentice rider status as he is an experienced rider.
Mr Oatham described the need to impose a penalty to deter other riders from breaching this rule but we see the need to impose a penalty to deter Mr McKay from further breaches. The number of total strikes today appeared to indicate he was only focussing on winning a Group 3 race. While we cannot be certain that Mr McKay won the race by using the whip excessively the margin back to second place was only narrow and all other riders finishing behind Mr McKay rode within the guidelines. It is appropriate that we add a monetary penalty on to any suspension.
We also had regard to the fact that Mr McKay is missing out on important rides at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day.
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: e9fa9eee15fd1caa7183b867be4d77cf
informantnumber: A8799
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 24/12/2017
hearing_title: Manawatu RC 23 December 2017 - R 6 - Chair, Mrs N Moffatt
charge:
facts:
Following Race 6 (Group 3 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup), Mr Oatham lodged an information with the Judicial Committee alleging a breach of Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) in that jockey S McKay used his whip excessively prior to the 100m.
Rule 638(3) (b) (ii) provides: A Rider shall not:
(ii) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is excessive
The “Guidelines with Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provide:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3) (b) a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Inside the final 600 metres of any Race, official trial or jump-out a horse may be struck with the drawn whip up to five times after which the rider must cease their use of the whip for a minimum of five strides before striking the horse again with the drawn whip, with this restriction to apply prior to the final 100 metres. The whip may then be used at the rider’s discretion until the winning post is reached.
Prior to the final 600 metres of a race, official trial or jump-out the use of the drawn whip is acceptable if used in moderation and not continually.
Mr Oatham began counting the total number of whip strikes from approximately the 300m using both side-on and head-on videos. He calculated there was a total of 14 strikes with some pauses, but none of the required five strides.
Mr S McKay did not dispute the Stewards’ calculation but said he believed he may have hit the horse on his fifth stride.
Mr P McKay accepted that his son had ridden outside of the guidelines but said that he was not using the whip aggressively, he was just not getting the pauses right in between.
Mr P McKay expressed some frustration that if a rider rode to the guidelines (5 on followed by 5 off), from the top of the straight, they could easily hit a horse more times than his son had done today.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr McKay admitted the breach the charge was found to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Oatham produced Mr McKay’s record since August 1st this year:
26/8/17 - $400 (above midrange)
13/9/17 - $500 (below midrange)
11/11/17 - 6 day suspension (9 strikes)
Mr Oatham said this was Mr McKay’s 4th breach of the whip rule since August and today’s breach was compounded by the high number of strikes (14). In addition the race was of Group 3 status and Mr McKay went on to win the race. Mr Oatham said that a clear message needed to be sent to other riders that it was not acceptable to breach the rule just because it was a big race.
Mr Oatham submitted that because Mr McKay benefited by winning the race the Committee could consider a monetary penalty in addition to a suspension of not less than 10 days.
Mr McKay advised of riding commitments through until Wednesday December 27th. He had nothing further to add other than ask for clarification as to the winning margin (long neck).
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee had regard to all submissions.
The updated starting points for breaches of Rule 638(3)(b)(ii) are:
1st breach $300
2nd breach $500
3rd or subsequent breach 6-8 national riding day suspension
Mr McKay’s record of excessive whip use is of concern to this Committee. We adopted a starting point of 8 national riding days.
Aggravating factors were the high number of strikes and the Group 3 status of the race with a $100,000 stake.
We did not afford Mr McKay any discount for his apprentice rider status as he is an experienced rider.
Mr Oatham described the need to impose a penalty to deter other riders from breaching this rule but we see the need to impose a penalty to deter Mr McKay from further breaches. The number of total strikes today appeared to indicate he was only focussing on winning a Group 3 race. While we cannot be certain that Mr McKay won the race by using the whip excessively the margin back to second place was only narrow and all other riders finishing behind Mr McKay rode within the guidelines. It is appropriate that we add a monetary penalty on to any suspension.
We also had regard to the fact that Mr McKay is missing out on important rides at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day.
penalty:
Accordingly Mr McKay is suspended from the close of racing on Wednesday December 28th up to and including racing on Saturday January 6th. In addition he is fined the sum of $750.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3)(b)(ii)
Informant: Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S McKay - Apprentice Rider
Otherperson: Mr P McKay - Licensed Trainer assisting Mr S McKay
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 49d60098b089ff35b53ad316c1c7245a
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:
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meetid: 1d5aa555b08e34f05866b14f4cd26e3d
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meetdate: 23/12/2017
meet_title: Manawatu RC - 23 December 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
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tracklocation: manawatu-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: NMoffatt
meet_pm1: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm2: none
name: Manawatu RC