Auckland TC – 22 December 2006 –

hearingid: 2f03809fc1bf521f3453dc5a4920a4b0

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hearing_racingtype: harness-racing

startdate: 22/12/2006

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hearing_title: Auckland TC - 22 December 2006 -

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Decision:

An information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr J. Muirhead against Mr F. Cooney the driver of AQUA BLAST alleging a breach of the above rule in that he drove his horse carelessly

An information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr J. Muirhead against Mr F. Cooney the driver of AQUA BLAST alleging a breach of the above rule in that he drove his horse carelessly causing interference to KELLY?S MACCHI (driver T. Mitchell) which resulted in checks to SALUTE RUFUS, BURY MY HEART and JACK?S HIGH with approximately 500m to run.

Mr Cooney did not admit the breach and was present at the hearing.

The relevant rule was read to Mr Cooney and he acknowledged that he understood it.

Mr Muirhead in giving evidence demonstrated the incident on video film. The Committee has the benefit of being able to view the incident from 4 different angles.

Mr Muirhead showed the Committee that AQUA BLAST prior to the 500m mark was racing outside KELLY?S MACCHI and was following HAPPY AS (driver M. White). Mr Muirhead also showed that MAHEER DREAM (driver P. Ferguson) was racing outside AQUA BLAST but Mr Muirhead pointed out that there was considerable room between Mr Ferguson's horse and Mr Cooney's horse. Mr Muirhead pointed out the inwards movement of AQUA BLAST and suggested that Mr Cooney was following Mr White's horse which was also moving towards the rail but further ahead. Mr Muirhead stated that in his opinion Mr Cooney's horse had tightened up KELLY?S MACCHI causing that horse to break and as a result there was interference to SALUTE RUFUS, BURY MY HEART and JACK?S HIGH. Mr Muirhead also pointed out the amount of room between Mr Cooney's horse and Mr Ferguson's horse MAHEER DREAM and in his opinion Mr Cooney was not being caused any problems by the outside horse.

Mr Cooney did not take the opportunity to ask any questions of Mr Muirhead.

Mr Muirhead then called Mr T. Mitchell the driver of KELLY?S MACCHI to give evidence. Mr Mitchell said that at about the 500m mark he got squeezed from the outside and that it was from Mr Cooney's horse. He said that there was contact to his horse's front legs and this caused it to break. Mr Mitchell said that his horse was drifting back at the time but he confirmed the tightening from the outside, the contact and his horse breaking as a result. Mr Mitchell said that he did call out but it was after the incident had happened.

Mr Cooney did not take the opportunity to ask any questions of Mr Mitchell.

Mr Muirhead then called Mr P. Ferguson to give evidence. Mr Ferguson was the driver of MAHEER DREAM and at the time of the incident he was following WAIPIPI EXPRESS driven by Mr J. Abernethy. Mr Ferguson said that he was improving past Mr Cooney but he said that he kept his horse on the outside of the outer wheel of Mr Abernethy's horse and in his opinion there was plenty of room between his horse and Mr Cooney's horse. Mr Ferguson said that he also looked inwards twice to make sure that there was plenty of room. Mr Ferguson was asked if he heard Mr Cooney call out at any stage and he said no. Mr Ferguson was also asked about his horse racing with its head turned out and he said that it generally races that way. In Mr Ferguson's opinion he was giving Mr Cooney plenty of room and not causing him any problems at all.

In answer to a question from Mr Cooney, Mr Ferguson said that at the time of the incident the wheels of his sulky were inline with the shoulder of Mr Cooney's horse.

Mr Cooney then gave his evidence and he did acknowledge that contact had been made with KELLY?S MACCHI and he also acknowledged cramping up KELLY?S MACCHI. Mr Cooney however suggested that the problem was caused by the horses in front HAPPY AS, WAIPIPI EXPRESS and MAHEER DREAM moving across and causing a general tightening. Mr Cooney said that he didn?t call out when that was happening although often drivers call out, he did say that he was not having a problem with Mr Ferguson in the sense that Mr Ferguson was not tightening his horse and he also said that he was not following Mr White down towards the fence.

Mr Cooney said that when he tried to take evasive action that although there was room between his horse and Mr Ferguson's horse, there was not sufficient room for him to move out to avoid coming into contact with Mr Mitchell's horse. Mr Cooney seemed to suggest that this was one of those things that happened in racing and he couldn?t do anything about it.

In answer to questions from the Committee Mr Cooney confirmed that he had squeezed up Mr Mitchell's horse and there was contact.

Decision and Penalty:

This Committee is satisfied that on the evidence before us Mr Cooney's horse moved in and did cause interference to KELLY?S MACCHI with resultant in interference to the other three horses named in the information. The film clearly shows the inward movement of Mr Cooney's horse and the interference and this is consistent with the evidence given.

The parties were asked to make submissions as to penalty and Mr Muirhead referred the Committee to rule 1114 and said that this was a premier meeting and as a result the horses in this grade were racing for higher stakes than normal. Mr Muirhead said that a suspension of 2-5 days was warranted and that this breach was in the middle to upper level and he asked for a minimum of 4 days.

Mr Cooney said that he would prefer a fine because he had the drive on ONE DREAM coming up on the 31^st December 2006. Mr Muirhead suggested that perhaps there could be a combination of suspension and fine to enable Mr Cooney to drive ONE DREAM. In imposing penalty the Committee took into account the following matters:

1. The not guilty plea.

2 The fact that in his evidence, Mr Cooney acknowledged contact and acknowledged tightening up KELLY?S MACCHI.

3. Mr Cooney did not challenge the evidence of Mr Muirhead or Mr Mitchell or to a large extent the evidence of Mr Ferguson. Mr Cooney's defence was not credible as far as this Committee was concerned.

4. The offending was in this Committee's view in the upper range of the scale of seriousness because interference was caused to 4 horses. The chances of KELLY?S MACCHI were not affected because it was tiring at the time but the other 3 horses were denied an opportunity to compete in a race at a premier meeting.

5. The provisions of rule 1114 do apply in this situation, Mr Cooney's driving record which was presented to the Committee.

6. The evidence as a whole.

7. The submissions made. This Committee is not prepared to take into account a future drive when assessing penalty and is not prepared to impose suspension and fine for the purposes of convenience.

Having taken all of those matters into account the Committee has decided to suspend Mr Cooney's horseman's licence up to and including the conclusion of racing on the 31^st of December 2006.

BJ Scott, Chairman

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