Hawkes Bay RI – 13 October 2005 – Race 3

Following Race 3 an information was filed pursuant to Rule 866 (1) (c) when it was alleged that G.Grylls "failed to ride out to end of race, beaten a head for 4^th placing."

Mr Grylls did not admit the charge.

Mr Goodwin told the committee that the incident occurred over the final stages of the race when Mr Grylls was observed to stop riding for approximately four strides and then just short of the post he got going again.

Mr Oatham used the side-on video run at normal speed, slowed down, then paused, to show the position of Mr Innes (Star Of Mulwala) relative to Mr Grylls (Cavallo) at the time of the alleged incident. He pointed to Mr Innes racing wide out on the track, a long neck or more behind Mr Grylls.The head-on view showed Mr Grylls stop riding and then start again just before the post. Mr Innes finished in fourth place beating Mr Grylls by a head margin.

Mr Oatham then showed some inward movement from a horse, immediately on Mr Gryll's outside, ridden by Mr Hannam (Butch James). Mr Oatham stated that although Mr Hannam had moved inwards there was always a sufficient gap between the two horses, therefore this did not contribute to Mr Grylls stopping riding or impede him in any way.

In his defence, Mr Grylls said that there was inward movement from Mr Hannam's horse as they neared the post. He conceded that he might have stopped riding for two strides but said that he had no room to move due to a horse being hard up against him on his inside and that he was anticipating Mr Hannam's mount moving in towards him from his outside. He finished by saying that his horse was well tried and had not stopped at all. He did not think it was possible that in the last few strides before the post his horse could have stopped and then got going again.

Mr McCutcheon reiterated the points made by the Stipendiary Stewards and Mr Goodwin summed up by saying that Mr Grylls stopped riding when he anticipated being crowded by Mr Hannam. That crowding did not happen and Mr Gryll's actions cost him fourth placing.

Mr Grylls was satisfied that he had stated his case to the committee.

The committee had careful regard to all submissions and it was our view, having considered the films at length, that Mr Grylls did stop riding over the final stages of the race . Star Of Mulwala (L.Innes) was racing wide out on the track but was clearly behind Mr Grylls at the stage that he relaxed on his horse. We believed that the actions of Mr Grylls, in stopping riding for four strides, allowed Mr Innes to finish ahead of him in fourth placing. We did not accept that there was crowding from Mr Hannam to the extent that Mr Grylls could not ride his mount out. There was always a clear gap between the two horses. Accordingly we found the charge, brought under Rule 866 (1) (c), proved and submissions on penalty were sought.

Mr Gryll's record showed one charge under this rule on the 4^th January 2004 for which he received a four-day suspension.

Mr Goodwin said that this most recent breach warranted a term of suspension.

Mr Grylls asked the committee to consider that no dividend-bearing placings were affected.

In coming to a decision on penalty the committee did take into account the fact that no dividend-bearing positions had been affected. It was our opinion however, that Mr Grylls had displayed a serious error of judgment in stopping riding when clearly in fourth position. As a result, the connections of Cavallo have lost stake money.

We agreed with Mr Goodwin that a period of suspension was justified.

The racing public has to have confidence that all horses will be ridden out to the finish of every race.

We have noted that recent breaches of Rule 866 (1) (c) have been met with periods of suspension of three to four week's duration. These breaches, however, have all involved dividend-bearing placings.

We also considered a previous breach of this rule by Mr Grylls in 2004.

The committee suspended Mr Grylls from the conclusion of racing on Sunday 16^th October until the conclusion of racing on Saturday 29^th October.