Kurow TC – 2 August 2009 – Race 10
ID: JCA22063
Hearing Type (Code):
harness-racing
Meet Title:
Kurow TC - 2 August 2009
Race Date:
2009/08/02
Race Number:
Race 10
Decision:
Mr Knowles, stipendiary steward, alleged that Mr Douglas (HANDY KNIGHT) drove carelessly by allowing his horse to strike the sulky of INNES LAD causing his horse to break, checking other runners.
--
Mr Knowles, stipendiary steward, alleged that Mr Douglas (HANDY KNIGHT) drove carelessly by allowing his horse to strike the sulky of INNES LAD causing his horse to break, checking other runners.
--Mr Knowles demonstrated on the videos that HANDY KNIGHT when racing near the rear of the field when entering the straight struck the rear of the cart of the horse in front, INNES LAD, causing HANDY KNIGHT to break and interefere with 2 other runners. All 3 horses lost all chance.
--Mr Knowles stated he had witnessed the incident from the stewards’ box. He said prior to the incident there were no signs of any easing of the pace, sudden or otherwise, nor any checking of HANDY KNIGHT by any other runner. Mr Douglas simply allowed his horse to get too close to the cart of INNES LAD. Mr Knowles said Mr Douglas was sitting comfortably in the seat and appeared to take no evasive action.
--Mr Douglas said HANDY KNIGHT was a difficult horse to drive. The horse had its mouth open prior to the incident and he was not wanting to put pressure on its mouth as he believed this would cause it to break. He said on previous occasions when HANDY KNIGHT had been allowed to get close to the cart in front, the horse had reacted by easing back.
--We accept that Mr Douglas was conscious of the fact that HANDY KNIGHT was a difficult horse to drive and that he was not wanting to put undue pressure on the horse’s mouth in the belief this would cause it to gallop. Previous experience has shown, Mr Douglas said, that allowing the horse to get close to the cart in front had encouraged it to respond. Unfortunately on this occasion it did not. Contact was made, HANDY KNIGHT broke, and 3 horses suffered interference. We agree with Mr Knowles that Mr Douglas has taken insufficient measures to control HANDY KNIGHT. He has let the horse roll forward, and in so doing, it has struck the cart of the horse it was trailing. This in our view amounts to careless driving.
--Mr Knowles stated Mr Douglas had an excellent record this season. He descibed the incident as mid range and asked for 3 days suspension.
--Mr Douglas stated he had never previously been charged with careless driving. In response to a question from the Committee, he indicated he had been driving for 16 or 17 years.
We agree with Mr Knowles’s description of the nature of the breach. It is mid range. We accept the fact that HANDY KNIGHT is a difficult horse to drive, although there was nothing on the video that suggested it was proving an overly difficult drive today. We can see that the horse had its mouth open but we have seen horses reacting more adversely to the driver’s commands than we saw on this occasion. We balance that against Mr Douglas’s excellent record, and we accept Mr Knowles’s recommendation and suspend Mr Douglas from driving at the conclusion of today’s meeting up to and including 13 August. This is 3 days.
Geoff Hall John Eagles
CHAIR Committee Member
67422
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: bb79ec925c4665f83aca3b3973b48cb7
informantnumber:
horsename:
hearing_racingtype: harness-racing
startdate: 02/08/2009
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: no date provided
hearing_title: Kurow TC - 2 August 2009 - Race 10
charge:
facts:
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Knowles, stipendiary steward, alleged that Mr Douglas (HANDY KNIGHT) drove carelessly by allowing his horse to strike the sulky of INNES LAD causing his horse to break, checking other runners.
--
Mr Knowles, stipendiary steward, alleged that Mr Douglas (HANDY KNIGHT) drove carelessly by allowing his horse to strike the sulky of INNES LAD causing his horse to break, checking other runners.
--Mr Knowles demonstrated on the videos that HANDY KNIGHT when racing near the rear of the field when entering the straight struck the rear of the cart of the horse in front, INNES LAD, causing HANDY KNIGHT to break and interefere with 2 other runners. All 3 horses lost all chance.
--Mr Knowles stated he had witnessed the incident from the stewards’ box. He said prior to the incident there were no signs of any easing of the pace, sudden or otherwise, nor any checking of HANDY KNIGHT by any other runner. Mr Douglas simply allowed his horse to get too close to the cart of INNES LAD. Mr Knowles said Mr Douglas was sitting comfortably in the seat and appeared to take no evasive action.
--Mr Douglas said HANDY KNIGHT was a difficult horse to drive. The horse had its mouth open prior to the incident and he was not wanting to put pressure on its mouth as he believed this would cause it to break. He said on previous occasions when HANDY KNIGHT had been allowed to get close to the cart in front, the horse had reacted by easing back.
--We accept that Mr Douglas was conscious of the fact that HANDY KNIGHT was a difficult horse to drive and that he was not wanting to put undue pressure on the horse’s mouth in the belief this would cause it to gallop. Previous experience has shown, Mr Douglas said, that allowing the horse to get close to the cart in front had encouraged it to respond. Unfortunately on this occasion it did not. Contact was made, HANDY KNIGHT broke, and 3 horses suffered interference. We agree with Mr Knowles that Mr Douglas has taken insufficient measures to control HANDY KNIGHT. He has let the horse roll forward, and in so doing, it has struck the cart of the horse it was trailing. This in our view amounts to careless driving.
--Mr Knowles stated Mr Douglas had an excellent record this season. He descibed the incident as mid range and asked for 3 days suspension.
--Mr Douglas stated he had never previously been charged with careless driving. In response to a question from the Committee, he indicated he had been driving for 16 or 17 years.
We agree with Mr Knowles’s description of the nature of the breach. It is mid range. We accept the fact that HANDY KNIGHT is a difficult horse to drive, although there was nothing on the video that suggested it was proving an overly difficult drive today. We can see that the horse had its mouth open but we have seen horses reacting more adversely to the driver’s commands than we saw on this occasion. We balance that against Mr Douglas’s excellent record, and we accept Mr Knowles’s recommendation and suspend Mr Douglas from driving at the conclusion of today’s meeting up to and including 13 August. This is 3 days.
Geoff Hall John Eagles
CHAIR Committee Member
67422
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Old Hearing
Rules:
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 3b206a212df9d82679f003a0b6d68779
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: Race 10
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 41c05d3395daa6d670b7d1666a920139
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 02/08/2009
meet_title: Kurow TC - 2 August 2009
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: kurow-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair:
meet_pm1:
meet_pm2:
name: Kurow TC