Stratford TC – 17 February 2008 – Race 8
ID: JCA21282
Hearing Type (Code):
harness-racing
Meet Title:
Stratford TC - 17 February 2008
Race Date:
2008/02/17
Race Number:
Race 8
Decision: Stipendiary Steward Mr T W Taumanu lodged an information following Race 8 alleging Horseman Mr D J Butcher driving LEFT IN THE DARK drove carelessly when he shifted ground outwards
Stipendiary Steward Mr T W Taumanu lodged an information following Race 8 alleging Horseman Mr D J Butcher driving LEFT IN THE DARK drove carelessly when he shifted ground outwards with approximately 60 metres to race, causing PLAYING THE FIELD to be checked into a gallop.
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Mr Butcher did not admit the breach and was present for the hearing.
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Mr Taumanu called two witnesses, the first being Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead who gave evidence of the concluding stages of the race and referred to both side on and head on video footage.
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He indicated where near 60 metres from home LEFT IN THE DARK travelling well suddenly moved outwards causing PLAYING THE FIELD to be checked into a gallop.
----
He could not show there had been contact between the two horses but indicated where Driver J Abernathy had taken hold of his horse immediately before it broke up.
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Driver J Abernathy was then called to give evidence and told the hearing that near the 60 metre mark Mr Butcher had moved out but had not caused any interference to his drive PLAYING THE FIELD. He said instead that his horse had shied at the movement and had broken free of interference.
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Despite cross examination by Mr Taumanu Mr Abernathy was adamant that this was the correct version of the events.
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Mr Taumanu submitted that the witness Mr Abernathy earlier confirmed interference by Mr Butcher’s drive and from his extensive experience Mr Taumanu was quite sure that interference had in fact taken place by Mr Butcher improving outwards and into the line of Mr Abernathy.
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Mr Abernathy reiterated that his horse had shied and had not been the subject of interference.
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DECISION
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The evidence in support of the charge has fallen short of establishing that the actions of Mr Butcher in moving outwards has caused interference to LEFT IN THE DARK, and so a charge of Careless driving has not been established.
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The matter of apparently conflicting responses to questions during preliminary enquiries made by the Stipendiary Stewards may warrant further enquiry. That is a matter for them.
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The information is therefore dismissed.
----
--
--
Jeff Holloway
--Chairman
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: 8b69ad49b4cc8f722c1688257a3998c1
informantnumber:
horsename:
hearing_racingtype: harness-racing
startdate: 17/02/2008
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: no date provided
hearing_title: Stratford TC - 17 February 2008 - Race 8
charge:
facts:
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Stipendiary Steward Mr T W Taumanu lodged an information following Race 8 alleging Horseman Mr D J Butcher driving LEFT IN THE DARK drove carelessly when he shifted ground outwardsStipendiary Steward Mr T W Taumanu lodged an information following Race 8 alleging Horseman Mr D J Butcher driving LEFT IN THE DARK drove carelessly when he shifted ground outwards with approximately 60 metres to race, causing PLAYING THE FIELD to be checked into a gallop.
----
Mr Butcher did not admit the breach and was present for the hearing.
----
Mr Taumanu called two witnesses, the first being Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead who gave evidence of the concluding stages of the race and referred to both side on and head on video footage.
----
He indicated where near 60 metres from home LEFT IN THE DARK travelling well suddenly moved outwards causing PLAYING THE FIELD to be checked into a gallop.
----
He could not show there had been contact between the two horses but indicated where Driver J Abernathy had taken hold of his horse immediately before it broke up.
----
Driver J Abernathy was then called to give evidence and told the hearing that near the 60 metre mark Mr Butcher had moved out but had not caused any interference to his drive PLAYING THE FIELD. He said instead that his horse had shied at the movement and had broken free of interference.
----
Despite cross examination by Mr Taumanu Mr Abernathy was adamant that this was the correct version of the events.
----
Mr Taumanu submitted that the witness Mr Abernathy earlier confirmed interference by Mr Butcher’s drive and from his extensive experience Mr Taumanu was quite sure that interference had in fact taken place by Mr Butcher improving outwards and into the line of Mr Abernathy.
----
Mr Abernathy reiterated that his horse had shied and had not been the subject of interference.
----
--
DECISION
----
The evidence in support of the charge has fallen short of establishing that the actions of Mr Butcher in moving outwards has caused interference to LEFT IN THE DARK, and so a charge of Careless driving has not been established.
----
The matter of apparently conflicting responses to questions during preliminary enquiries made by the Stipendiary Stewards may warrant further enquiry. That is a matter for them.
----
The information is therefore dismissed.
----
--
--
Jeff Holloway
--Chairman
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Old Hearing
Rules:
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 889b4cb277845df59d8910c4d338233f
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: Race 8
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 6d960d3c8c4e52b45716afa3cec108f6
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 17/02/2008
meet_title: Stratford TC - 17 February 2008
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: stratford-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair:
meet_pm1:
meet_pm2:
name: Stratford TC