Canterbury R 5 August 2017 – R 8 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA18178
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Canterbury Racing - 5 August 2017
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2017/08/05
Race Number:
R8
Decision:
Miss Cowan having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Miss Cowan is fined the sum of $300.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 8, eStar 120th Winter Cup (Group 3), an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr J P Oatham, against Licensed Apprentice Jockey (Class B), Miss K J Cowan, alleging that Miss Cowan as the rider of NASHVILLE in the race, “used her whip excessively prior to the 100 metres”.
Miss Cowan was present at the hearing of the information, assisted by Apprentice Jockey Mentor, Mr D M Walsh. Miss Cowan indicated that she understood the charge and that she admitted the breach. She also confirmed that she was aware of the Guidelines regarding acceptable use of the whip effective from 1 August 2017.
Rule 638 provides as follows:
(3) A Rider shall not:
(b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is:
(ii) excessive
The “Guidelines With Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provide as follows:
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 J M McLaughlin, Stipendiary Steward, showed a video replay of the final 300-400 metres of the race. He pointed out NASHVILLE, ridden by Miss Cowan, racing beyond midfield and improving to the outside through runners. Miss Cowan then struck the horse with the whip twice before going back and pushing, but not for the required five strides. She then again used her whip eight times before going back to the rein, again not for five strides. She repeated this, with the result that she had used her whip approximately 16-17 times prior to the 100 metres being reached.
Miss Cowan accepted that her whip use had been outside of the guidelines. She said that she was “in a rhythm” and felt she was encouraging rather than hitting the horse.
Mr Walsh submitted that Miss Cowan had got “carried away” when she thought she was in with a winning chance.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Oatham submitted that the breach was at the low end. Miss Cowan had not even received a warning under the Rule before today. The only aggravating factor was that it was a $100,000 race, he said. Although the number of strikes was 16, Stewards did not see the manner of the strikes as being in any way excessive. There were also a number of pauses in her use of the whip.
Mr Walsh said that Miss Cowan had been riding only 6 months and had a good record over that period. She was still relatively inexperienced - approximately 140 rides, Miss Cowan said (in fact, Miss Cowan has had 116 rides up to the end of July). It was a “big deal” for her to be riding in a big race and she had got a little excited, Mr Walsh submitted. A minimum fine would be appropriate, he said.
Reasons for Penalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee had regard to the starting point of a $300 fine for a first breach of the Rule. The only aggravating factor, in the Committee’s view, was the status of the race and the stake payable – Group 3, $100,000. For that factor, we have applied an uplift of $100 of the starting point to $400.
Mitigating factors are Miss Cowan’s previous good record and her frank admission of the breach. We believe that a discount of $100 is appropriate for a combination of those two factors.
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: f7928da6990893f5f765bfe3b90472da
informantnumber: A8697
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 08/08/2017
hearing_title: Canterbury R 5 August 2017 - R 8 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 8, eStar 120th Winter Cup (Group 3), an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr J P Oatham, against Licensed Apprentice Jockey (Class B), Miss K J Cowan, alleging that Miss Cowan as the rider of NASHVILLE in the race, “used her whip excessively prior to the 100 metres”.
Miss Cowan was present at the hearing of the information, assisted by Apprentice Jockey Mentor, Mr D M Walsh. Miss Cowan indicated that she understood the charge and that she admitted the breach. She also confirmed that she was aware of the Guidelines regarding acceptable use of the whip effective from 1 August 2017.
Rule 638 provides as follows:
(3) A Rider shall not:
(b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is:
(ii) excessive
The “Guidelines With Respect to Acceptable Use of the Whip” provide as follows:
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 J M McLaughlin, Stipendiary Steward, showed a video replay of the final 300-400 metres of the race. He pointed out NASHVILLE, ridden by Miss Cowan, racing beyond midfield and improving to the outside through runners. Miss Cowan then struck the horse with the whip twice before going back and pushing, but not for the required five strides. She then again used her whip eight times before going back to the rein, again not for five strides. She repeated this, with the result that she had used her whip approximately 16-17 times prior to the 100 metres being reached.
Miss Cowan accepted that her whip use had been outside of the guidelines. She said that she was “in a rhythm” and felt she was encouraging rather than hitting the horse.
Mr Walsh submitted that Miss Cowan had got “carried away” when she thought she was in with a winning chance.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Miss Cowan having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Oatham submitted that the breach was at the low end. Miss Cowan had not even received a warning under the Rule before today. The only aggravating factor was that it was a $100,000 race, he said. Although the number of strikes was 16, Stewards did not see the manner of the strikes as being in any way excessive. There were also a number of pauses in her use of the whip.
Mr Walsh said that Miss Cowan had been riding only 6 months and had a good record over that period. She was still relatively inexperienced - approximately 140 rides, Miss Cowan said (in fact, Miss Cowan has had 116 rides up to the end of July). It was a “big deal” for her to be riding in a big race and she had got a little excited, Mr Walsh submitted. A minimum fine would be appropriate, he said.
reasonsforpenalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee had regard to the starting point of a $300 fine for a first breach of the Rule. The only aggravating factor, in the Committee’s view, was the status of the race and the stake payable – Group 3, $100,000. For that factor, we have applied an uplift of $100 of the starting point to $400.
Mitigating factors are Miss Cowan’s previous good record and her frank admission of the breach. We believe that a discount of $100 is appropriate for a combination of those two factors.
penalty:
Miss Cowan is fined the sum of $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3)(b)(ii)
Informant: J P Oatham, Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: K J Cowan, Licensed Apprentice Jockey (Class B)
Otherperson: D M Walsh, Apprentice Jockey Mentor, Mr J M McLaughlin - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 48ba4585304674820fa555733d62f7a4
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: 496f04e56d6f1300f3404258e96c497f
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 05/08/2017
meet_title: Canterbury Racing - 5 August 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: canterbury-racing
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: Canterbury Racing