Timaru HRC 26 April 2018 – R 5 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA18151
Meet Title:
Timaru HRC - 26 April 2018
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2018/04/26
Race Number:
R5
Decision:
Mr Hope having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Hope’s Junior Driver’s licence is suspended from after the close of racing on 26 April 2018 up to and including 13 May 2018 – 3 days. The meetings intended to be encompassed by the period of suspension are NZ Metropolitan TC on 4 May, Rangiora HRC on 6 May and Timaru HRC on 13 May 2018.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 5, Timaru South Cosmopolitan Club Mobile Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Junior Driver, Mr B T Hope, alleging that, as the driver of MOSSDALE ROSE in the race, he “used his whip more times than permitted”.
Mr Hope had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that he admitted the breach. He was present at the hearing of the information and confirmed that he admitted the breach. He was assisted at the hearing by Licensed Open Driver, Miss S J Ottley.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
The Use of Whip Regulations (effective from 30 November 2017) provide:
(b) No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of “backhanders” and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Mr Renault showed video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out MOSSDALE ROSE, driven by Mr Hope, improving 3-wide in 4th position as the field neared the home turn. Mr Hope commenced using his whip from that point. In the home straight, Mr Hope did break up his whip use but used it a total of 16 times in the straight, Mr Renault said. Mr Hope and Miss Ottley accepted the alleged number of strikes.
Mr Renault said that Mr Hope’s whip action was “messy”. He had continued to drive throughout the straight using his whip and needed to learn to break it up more.
Mr Hope said that had given the mare “constant reminders”. She had been running in quite badly, but he accepted that he needs to change his action. Miss Ottley endorsed that comment.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Renault told the Committee that Mr Hope is in his first season as a Junior Driver. He has had 88 drives. He had a previous breach of the whip Rule on 30 October 2017 at Kaikoura. Therefore, this breach falls inside the reset period of 6 months, Mr Renault said. Stewards were submitting that a suspension was the appropriate penalty.
The Penalty Guide starting point for a breach of the Rule is a 3-5 days suspension. Mr Renault submitted that a period of suspension of 3-4 days was appropriate.
The hearing then looked at forthcoming meetings with a view to determining relevant dates. There were two Premier meetings at Addington in early May at which Mr Hope was ineligible to drive, so those meetings should not be included, Mr Renault submitted.
Miss Ottley asked the Committee to take into account that the breach occurred only 4 days before Mr Hope’s penalty record is reset.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee noted that the Penalty Guide starting point for a second breach within 6 months is a 3-5 days suspension. We believe that this should be the starting point for determining penalty on this occasion. A 3-days suspension is the starting point for a low-end breach of the Rule. Although the number of strikes is in the higher range in this case, the Committee observed that they were not delivered with a lot of force and were broken up by alternative actions by Mr Hope. We are satisfied that the breach can be treated as being in the low-end category. Other factors are Mr Hope’s admission of the breach and the fact that the 6 months period since Mr Hope’s previous breach was close to being reset. Taking the sum of those factors into account, the Committee is satisfied that the appropriate penalty is a 3-days 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: f40e28fb6e10163d5735bbd25c679313
informantnumber: A10182
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 30/04/2018
hearing_title: Timaru HRC 26 April 2018 - R 5 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 5, Timaru South Cosmopolitan Club Mobile Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Junior Driver, Mr B T Hope, alleging that, as the driver of MOSSDALE ROSE in the race, he “used his whip more times than permitted”.
Mr Hope had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that he admitted the breach. He was present at the hearing of the information and confirmed that he admitted the breach. He was assisted at the hearing by Licensed Open Driver, Miss S J Ottley.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
The Use of Whip Regulations (effective from 30 November 2017) provide:
(b) No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of “backhanders” and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Mr Renault showed video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out MOSSDALE ROSE, driven by Mr Hope, improving 3-wide in 4th position as the field neared the home turn. Mr Hope commenced using his whip from that point. In the home straight, Mr Hope did break up his whip use but used it a total of 16 times in the straight, Mr Renault said. Mr Hope and Miss Ottley accepted the alleged number of strikes.
Mr Renault said that Mr Hope’s whip action was “messy”. He had continued to drive throughout the straight using his whip and needed to learn to break it up more.
Mr Hope said that had given the mare “constant reminders”. She had been running in quite badly, but he accepted that he needs to change his action. Miss Ottley endorsed that comment.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Hope having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Renault told the Committee that Mr Hope is in his first season as a Junior Driver. He has had 88 drives. He had a previous breach of the whip Rule on 30 October 2017 at Kaikoura. Therefore, this breach falls inside the reset period of 6 months, Mr Renault said. Stewards were submitting that a suspension was the appropriate penalty.
The Penalty Guide starting point for a breach of the Rule is a 3-5 days suspension. Mr Renault submitted that a period of suspension of 3-4 days was appropriate.
The hearing then looked at forthcoming meetings with a view to determining relevant dates. There were two Premier meetings at Addington in early May at which Mr Hope was ineligible to drive, so those meetings should not be included, Mr Renault submitted.
Miss Ottley asked the Committee to take into account that the breach occurred only 4 days before Mr Hope’s penalty record is reset.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee noted that the Penalty Guide starting point for a second breach within 6 months is a 3-5 days suspension. We believe that this should be the starting point for determining penalty on this occasion. A 3-days suspension is the starting point for a low-end breach of the Rule. Although the number of strikes is in the higher range in this case, the Committee observed that they were not delivered with a lot of force and were broken up by alternative actions by Mr Hope. We are satisfied that the breach can be treated as being in the low-end category. Other factors are Mr Hope’s admission of the breach and the fact that the 6 months period since Mr Hope’s previous breach was close to being reset. Taking the sum of those factors into account, the Committee is satisfied that the appropriate penalty is a 3-days suspension.
penalty:
Mr Hope’s Junior Driver’s licence is suspended from after the close of racing on 26 April 2018 up to and including 13 May 2018 – 3 days. The meetings intended to be encompassed by the period of suspension are NZ Metropolitan TC on 4 May, Rangiora HRC on 6 May and Timaru HRC on 13 May 2018.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)& Use of the Whip Regulations
Informant: S P Renault, Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: B T Hope, Licensed Junior Driver
Otherperson: Miss S J Ottley, Licensed Open Driver
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: fd008d9dd8e645d493d539552a40f4b6
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R5
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 7ebe7492c64593ac266a6dd8649e1bd6
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 26/04/2018
meet_title: Timaru HRC - 26 April 2018
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: timaru-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: Timaru HRC