Kumeu TC 8 October 2010 – R 4 (instigating a protest)

ID: JCA19432

Hearing Type:
Old Hearing

Rules:
869(4A) & 869(8)

Hearing Type (Code):
harness-racing

Meet Title:
Kumeu TC - 8 October 2010

Meet Chair:
tom

Meet Committee Member 1:
tom

Meet Committee Member 2:
tom

Race Date:
2010/10/08

Race Number:
R 4

Decision: --

RACEDAY JUDICIAL COMMITTEE DECISION

Informant: Mr JM Muirhead

Defendant: N/A

Information No: 13844 (Instigating a protest)

Meeting: Kumeu Trotting Club

Date: 8 October 2010

Venue: Alexandra Park, Auckland

Race: 4

Rule No: 869(4 A) & 869(8)

Judicial Committee: BJ Scott, Chairman - BJ Rowe, Committee Member,

FACTS:

An Information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr JM Muirhead instigating a protest against the 1^st placing of Toledo (Driver M Kerr) on the grounds of causing interference to Chrissy Styx (Driver JP Stormont) shortly after the start.

Present were Mr GR Dixon the Trainer of Toledo and he advised this Committee that he was representing the connections of that horse. Mr M Kerr the Driver of Toledo was also present.

Present also was Mr M Purdon the Trainer of Chrissy Styx and he advised this Committee that he was representing the owners of that horse. Mr JP Stormont the Driver of Chrissy Styx was also present.

Mr Muirhead gave evidence and advised this Committee that he watched the incident from the Steward’s position five stories up. He said the he was looking straight down on the field as they were approaching the first bend. He said that Chrissy Styx drew 2 and Toledo drew 4 and they both began well. He said that Powertofly Driven by Mr Z Butcher drew 1 on the second line.

Mr Muirhead said that coming into the first bend Mr Kerr on Toledo moved inwards and squeezed up Mr Stormont and this forced Mr Stormont into taking evasive action and his horse broke. Mr Muirhead said that he did not know if Mr Stormont called out to Mr Kerr.

He said that Mr Kerr came across too early and did not give Mr Stormont any room and his actions caused Mr Stormont’s horse Chrissy Styx to gallop.

Mr Muirhead then showed the film of the incident, he pointed to the location of the horses approaching the first bend and he said that Mr Kerr was following Mr Lawson driving All Defiance. He said that Mr Kerr ended up in the 1 1 when he shouldn’t have been and that his movement meant that Mr Stormont ran out of room and Mr Stormont’s horse broke.

Mr Stormont was then asked to give evidence and he said that he agreed with Mr Muirhead’s evidence.

He also said that he did call out to Mr Kerr and he said that although no contact was made it was very tight.

Mr Kerr for his part said that he didn’t move in but that he only followed Mr Lawson and he believed that he was entitled to. He said that Mr Stormont over reacted and over corrected his horse. He did acknowledge that Mr Stormont called out and Mr Kerr said that he pulled his horse out.

Mr Stormont also said that Mr Purdon as the Driver of Glenalvon who was leading at the time had run out and this tightened up room for Mr Butcher and caused Mr Stormont to come into contact with him. Mr Kerr said that in his view Mr Stormont reacted in a dramatic way and he said that it doesn’t help when the leader (Glenalvon) has run 1 ½ carts out.

Mr Dixon told this Committee that in his view Mr Stormont was trying to keep up with the leaders and was slapping up his horse and didn’t have full control and contributed to the incident.

Mr Purdon said that as far as he was concerned Mr Kerr moved inwards following Mr Lawson and that as a result Mr Stormont had no room.

Mr Kerr was asked by this Committee to explain why he thought Mr Stormont called out to him. He was unable to give a satisfactory answer.

Mr Stormont was asked by this Committee if he felt that his chances had been affected as a result of the interference. Mr Stormont said that he wasn’t sure but that as a result of the interference it became a different type of race.

Mr Muirhead said that the margin between Toledo and Chrissy Styx who had run 1^st and 2^nd was 6.7 of a length. He also said that Mr Kerr had taken the position that Mr Stormont had and that quite clearly Mr Kerr had caused interference to Mr Stormont’s horse.

DECISION AND REASONS:

This Committee found that clearly there was interference caused to Chrissy Styx and this was caused by Mr Kerr. As a result of that interference the complexion of the race was changed and Mr Stormont lost three or four lengths and more importantly lost control of his position in the race. The result of this was that he got a less favourable run and he ultimately finished on and ran 2^nd. Toledo on the other hand but for the inwards movement would have been 3 wide around the first bend but he ended being 1 out.

The result of this was that firstly Toledo gained an advantage by its actions and secondly the chances of Chrissy Styx were in the opinion of this Committee affected.

The protest was accordingly upheld and Toledo was relegated from 1^st to 2^nd and Chrissy Styx promoted to 1^st.

The amended placings were accordingly:

1^st (2) Chrissy Styx

2^nd (4) Toledo

3^rd (3) All Defiance

4^th (10) Powertofly

5^th (1) Glenalvon

6^th (5) Alhambra Rocket

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: 5433ba71b061d9620d1b768abbbdc1d8

informantnumber:

horsename:

hearing_racingtype: harness-racing

startdate: 08/10/2010

newcharge:

plea:

penaltyrequired:

decisiondate: no date provided

hearing_title: Kumeu TC 8 October 2010 - R 4 (instigating a protest)

charge:

facts:

appealdecision:

isappeal:

submissionsfordecision:

reasonsfordecision:

Decision: