Forbury Park TC – 9 December 2005 – Race 2

hearingid: ec6cdef853b0acced6735067a9770d72

informantnumber:

horsename:

hearing_racingtype: harness-racing

startdate: 09/12/2005

newcharge:

plea:

penaltyrequired:

decisiondate: no date provided

hearing_title: Forbury Park TC - 9 December 2005 - Race 2

charge:

facts:

appealdecision:

isappeal:

submissionsfordecision:

reasonsfordecision:

Decision:

After race 2 Mr Knowles, stipendiary steward, instigated a protest into the 1st placing of HERE COMES HOMER alleging interference

After race 2 Mr Knowles, stipendiary steward, instigated a protest into the 1st placing of HERE COMES HOMER alleging interference racing into the first bend when HERE COMES HOMER hung checking SUPER JEFF which broke losing its chance. He sought relegation to behind SUPER JEFF which finished 10th. Judge's placings were 4, 10, 14, 17, 9, 16.

Mr Knowles had Mr Allison, stipendiary steward, demonstrate on the video that as HERE COMES HOMER was entering the first bend the horse, which was racing greenly, hung and made contact with SUPER JEFF which broke and galloped for some distance losing its chance. Mr Renault, driver of SUPER JEFF which had drawn the second line, gave evidence that as he was moving into a gap between Mr Johnston and the horse on the fence, HERE COMES HOMER hung in and contact was made between their 2 carts. He said he heard Mr Johnston yell out to Mr Milne to give him some room. He was unclear in his evidence whether this was after contact was made or at the same time. He said he did not believe the incident was contributed to by the movement of any other horse. He added their wheels had become locked and that his cart was pulled out ? a cart. He said prior to the incident his horse was going okay. Mr Milne gave evidence that he was out 4 wide. He said he did not believe he had contributed to the incident and that HERE COMES HOMER had plenty of room. He said he did hear Mr Johnston call out "Keep out Alex." He agreed with Mr Johnston that his horse had its head on its side but said by way of rejoinder "not as much as yours!"

Mr Johnston called Mr Lee to give evidence who said his thought at the time was that Mr Renault was being cheeky and poking into a gap that was not there. He acknowledged he did not have a very good view of the incident, however. Mr Johnston said the fact that Mr Milne moved across was a contributing factor. He also said he was angling into a gap that he was entitled to take when Mr Renault poked up. He said he had to take hold of his horse and that caused HERE COMES HOMER to hang. He said he pulled his horse off Mr Renault as soon as he could. He accepted contact had been made.

When questioned by the Committee Mr Knowles confirmed that in his view HERE COMES HOMER was hanging, that Mr Renault was entitled to be where he was and that contact was made as Mr Johnston endeavoured to pull HERE COMES HOMER off SUPER JEFF.

We find we prefer Mr Allison's and Mr Knowles' interpretation of the video. HERE COMES HOMER was clearly hanging as Mr Johnston angled him across entering the first bend. SUPER JEFF was going better than HERE COMES HOMER at this time and was moving into a gap between HERE COMES HOMER and the horse on the fence. Mr Johnston was also angling in at this time. His horse was hanging and as he pulled his horse off Mr Renault he pulled the head of the horse to the side and eventually the carts of the 2 horses came into contact. Mr Renault's cart pulled out ? a width; SUPER JEFF galloped losing all chance.

In these circumstances we are satisfied that the chances of SUPER JEFF were interfered with when that horse broke as a consequence of its sulky wheel coming into contact with HERE COMES HOMER when HERE COMES HOMER hung and moved inwards onto SUPER JEFF on entering and progressing through the first bend. We find the chances of SUPER JEFF were all but extinguished as a consequence of that horse breaking and then galloping back through the field and settling in the rear group. We exercise our discretion and relegate HERE COMES HOMER to behind SUPER JEFF. Amended placings are 10, 14, 17, 9, 16.

We add that this inquiry was late in commencing due to preliminary investigations by the stewards and a delay in establishing the final placing of SUPER JEFF. As a consequence it was adjourned part heard until after the running of race 3. We add that this is another example of an incident that could have been resolved more readily had there been a head-on camera. The absence of such a camera has frequently been lamented in previous reports by both the stipendiary stewards and the Judicial Committee.

sumissionsforpenalty:

reasonsforpenalty:

penalty:

hearing_type: Old Hearing

Rules:

Informant:

JockeysandTrainer:

Otherperson:

PersonPresent:

Respondent:

StipendSteward:

raceid: 2e31a63ab92d53d4473a84d1b3a933a1

race_expapproval:

racecancelled: 0

race_noreport: 0

race_emailed1: 0

race_emailed2: 0

race_title: Race 2

submittochair:

race_expappcomment:

race_km:

race_otherexp:

race_chair:

race_pm1:

race_pm2:

meetid: bf48f8a089762b3fbbd15b7f0bd42cf8

meet_expapproval:

meet_noreport: 0

waitingforpublication: 0

meet_emailed1: 0

meet_emailed2: 0

meetdate: 09/12/2005

meet_title: Forbury Park TC - 9 December 2005

meet_expappcomment:

meet_km:

meet_otherexp:

tracklocation: forbury-park-tc

meet_racingtype: harness-racing

meet_chair:

meet_pm1:

meet_pm2:

name: Forbury Park TC