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Appeal – LK Cropp

ID: JCA22944

Hearing Type:
Old Hearing

Hearing Type (Code):
thoroughbred-racing

Decision: --

On 27 January 2007 Ms Cropp was suspended on a charge of careless riding following the running of the Thorndon Mile at Trentham. The suspension was for a period of five riding days. On 29 January 2007 Ms Cropp, by her agent Mr Goord, lodged a Notice of Appeal with the JCA.



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IN THE MATTER of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Rules of Racing

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BETWEEN           LISA CROPP

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                             Appellant

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AND                    NEW ZEALAND THOROUGHBRED RACING

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                            Respondent

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_______________________________________________________________

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DECISION OF APPEAL TRIBUNAL

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________________________________________________________________

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1. Background

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    1. On 27 January 2007 Ms Cropp was suspended on a charge of careless riding following the running of the Thorndon Mile at Trentham. The suspension was for a period of five riding days. On 29 January 2007 Ms Cropp, by her agent Mr Goord, lodged a Notice of Appeal with the JCA. The appeal was against both the finding of careless riding and the penalty.
      2. --

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    2. Miss Cropp sought a stay of proceedings. This was not opposed by NZTR and was granted.
      3. --

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    3. The appeal was set down for hearing on Saturday 3 February at Te Rapa. The appeal was to proceed before the commencement of racing on that day.
      4. --

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    4. On 3 February this year the Waikato Racing Club was staging a major meeting with the two principal races being the New Zealand Bloodstock Classique for a stake of $500k and the HS Dyke Waikato Guineas for a stake of $70k.
      5. --

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2. Appeal withdrawn

------

2.1 On the afternoon of Friday 2 February a fax message was received by the Executive Officer of the JCA on behalf of Ms Cropp. This sought leave to withdraw the appeal set down for hearing the following morning.

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    1. Arrangements for hearing the appeal were already in place. One of the members of the Appeal Tribunal was booked to fly from the South Island. The Chief Stipendiary Steward was booked to fly from Wellington.
      2. --

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    2. The Chairman of the Tribunal requested that Ms Cropp appear at 10am on the Saturday morning, 3 February. This was in order to confirm the position and to alert both parties to an issue of costs which might arise when confirmation of the withdrawal of the appeals was received.
      3. --

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    3. Ms Cropp and Mr Goord appeared before the Chairman of the Tribunal. For NZTR the Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr George, appeared along with Mr John Oatham.
      4. --

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    4. Ms Cropp and Mr Goord confirmed that the appeals were to be withdrawn. The record was formally noted and the period of suspension reimposed. This suspension took account of the fact that the Tribunal was persuaded that Ms Cropp had not been able to accept rides at the Hawera meeting on 1 February. That state of affairs arose from an unavoidable delay in determining the stay application.
      5. --

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    5. Ms Cropp had a full book of rides at Te Rapa on Saturday 3 February. In the result she did not ride a winner but rode the second placed horse in Race 9.
      6. --

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3. Costs

------

3.1 The Tribunal alerted both parties to the question of costs. The position is governed by Rule 1206. Directions were made that NZTR and the JCA file submissions within 10 days. Those submissions to be forthwith transmitted to Ms Cropp's agent, Mr Goord, and that Ms Cropp and/or Mr Goord have a further 10 days in which to respond.

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3.2 Material was received from the Respondent. The JCA has advised the Tribunal of the costs which it has incurred. More will be said of that in a moment. These advices were passed to Mr Goord. There has been no response in the 10 day period provided for.

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3.3 At the hearing at Te Rapa on 3 February Mr Goord explained that the very late decision to withdraw the appeal had come about because the wrong tapes of the race had been made available and it was necessary to go back and request the correct material. Further, he explained that there was a delay in obtaining the written transcript. The Monday following the race meeting, 29 January, was Auckland Anniversary Day and the officers of the JCA in Cambridge were closed. This is apparently the explanation for the delay in the transcript being available.

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3.4 NZTR has made no submission in support of an application for costs. It has simply notified the airfares incurred by Mr George, the senior stipendiary steward. The Tribunal believes that NZTR would have been put to some trouble and expense beyond the payment of the airfare and it is disappointing that no submission was made to address that. The airfare for Mr George was $279.70. The Executive Officer of the JCA has advised the costs incurred by the Authority were $946.00.

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4. Discussion and Decision

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    1. Ideally Ms Cropp and her advisers might have received the tape of the Thorndon Mile and the transcript somewhat earlier. Nevertheless that is the same tape which was played at the race day hearing. The transcript does no more than record what was said at the race day hearing in the presence of Ms Cropp. There is no question of any new material.
      2. --

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    2. The advice that the appeals were to be withdrawn was informal and very late. As earlier noted arrangements for hearing the appeal were well advanced. It follows from the decision to withdraw that Ms Cropp and her advisers must have concluded that the appeals had no prospect of success.
      3. --

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    3. In consequence of lodging the appeal and obtaining a stay of proceedings Ms Cropp was able to ride at Te Rapa on Saturday 3 February. Substantial stakes were on offer that day. In the Tribunal's view it is irrelevant that Ms Cropp did not have a successful day in terms of winners or placed horses ridden. What is plain is that an appeal lacking merit was lodged and a stay obtained which permitted Ms Cropp to accept mounts at a very significant race meeting.
      4. --

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    4. The Tribunal is satisfied that both NZTR and the JCA have been put to unnecessary expense, some but not all of which could have been avoided had the advice that the appeal(s) were to be abandoned been received earlier.
      5. --

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    5. While no submissions have been received for or on behalf of Ms Cropp since the hearing on 3 February the Tribunal has endeavoured to set out a fair account of what was said on that day by way of explanation for the very late notice that the appeals were to be withdrawn.
      6. --

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    6. In determining the correct approach to take the Tribunal has had regard to earlier decisions; in particular the Michael Walker v NZTR decision of 19 November 2002. That decision and the recent decision of the Appeal Tribunal in Francis Cooney v HRNZ were both drawn to the attention of the parties at the hearing on 3 February.
      7. --

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    7. The Tribunal has determined that this is an appropriate case to order costs. The most significant considerations are that the appeal(s) were withdrawn by the Appellant from which it must be concluded that they were without merit and, secondly, the advice in that regard was given very late. In fixing the quantum of costs the Tribunal considers that Ms Cropp should make a significant contribution towards the costs which have been incurred. Indemnity costs are not considered appropriate but the figure set should nevertheless reflect the real cost of the appeal process. The appellant will pay costs to NZTR in the sum of $200 and will pay costs to the Judicial Control Authority of $700. The filing fee in respect of the appeals is forfeited.
      8. --

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Dated this 28th day of February 2007

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Murray McKechnie

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Chairman

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Keith Hales

Decision Date: 01/01/2001

Publish Date: 01/01/2001

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: fb1fa188c98ee867f4e3f40920d9a7cd

informantnumber:

horsename:

hearing_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing

startdate: 01/01/2001

newcharge:

plea:

penaltyrequired:

decisiondate: no date provided

hearing_title: Appeal - LK Cropp

charge:

facts:

appealdecision:

isappeal:

submissionsfordecision:

reasonsfordecision:

Decision:

--

On 27 January 2007 Ms Cropp was suspended on a charge of careless riding following the running of the Thorndon Mile at Trentham. The suspension was for a period of five riding days. On 29 January 2007 Ms Cropp, by her agent Mr Goord, lodged a Notice of Appeal with the JCA.



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IN THE MATTER of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Rules of Racing

--

BETWEEN           LISA CROPP

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                             Appellant

--

AND                    NEW ZEALAND THOROUGHBRED RACING

--

                            Respondent

--

_______________________________________________________________

--

DECISION OF APPEAL TRIBUNAL

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________________________________________________________________

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1. Background

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  1. On 27 January 2007 Ms Cropp was suspended on a charge of careless riding following the running of the Thorndon Mile at Trentham. The suspension was for a period of five riding days. On 29 January 2007 Ms Cropp, by her agent Mr Goord, lodged a Notice of Appeal with the JCA. The appeal was against both the finding of careless riding and the penalty.
    2. --

    --

    --

    --

  2. Miss Cropp sought a stay of proceedings. This was not opposed by NZTR and was granted.
    3. --

    --

    --

    --

  3. The appeal was set down for hearing on Saturday 3 February at Te Rapa. The appeal was to proceed before the commencement of racing on that day.
    4. --

    --

    --

    --

  4. On 3 February this year the Waikato Racing Club was staging a major meeting with the two principal races being the New Zealand Bloodstock Classique for a stake of $500k and the HS Dyke Waikato Guineas for a stake of $70k.
    5. --

--

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2. Appeal withdrawn

------

2.1 On the afternoon of Friday 2 February a fax message was received by the Executive Officer of the JCA on behalf of Ms Cropp. This sought leave to withdraw the appeal set down for hearing the following morning.

--

--
    --
    --

    --

  1. Arrangements for hearing the appeal were already in place. One of the members of the Appeal Tribunal was booked to fly from the South Island. The Chief Stipendiary Steward was booked to fly from Wellington.
    2. --

    --

    --

    --

  2. The Chairman of the Tribunal requested that Ms Cropp appear at 10am on the Saturday morning, 3 February. This was in order to confirm the position and to alert both parties to an issue of costs which might arise when confirmation of the withdrawal of the appeals was received.
    3. --

    --

    --

    --

  3. Ms Cropp and Mr Goord appeared before the Chairman of the Tribunal. For NZTR the Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr George, appeared along with Mr John Oatham.
    4. --

    --

    --

    --

  4. Ms Cropp and Mr Goord confirmed that the appeals were to be withdrawn. The record was formally noted and the period of suspension reimposed. This suspension took account of the fact that the Tribunal was persuaded that Ms Cropp had not been able to accept rides at the Hawera meeting on 1 February. That state of affairs arose from an unavoidable delay in determining the stay application.
    5. --

    --

    --

    --

  5. Ms Cropp had a full book of rides at Te Rapa on Saturday 3 February. In the result she did not ride a winner but rode the second placed horse in Race 9.
    6. --

--

--

3. Costs

------

3.1 The Tribunal alerted both parties to the question of costs. The position is governed by Rule 1206. Directions were made that NZTR and the JCA file submissions within 10 days. Those submissions to be forthwith transmitted to Ms Cropp's agent, Mr Goord, and that Ms Cropp and/or Mr Goord have a further 10 days in which to respond.

--

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3.2 Material was received from the Respondent. The JCA has advised the Tribunal of the costs which it has incurred. More will be said of that in a moment. These advices were passed to Mr Goord. There has been no response in the 10 day period provided for.

--

--

3.3 At the hearing at Te Rapa on 3 February Mr Goord explained that the very late decision to withdraw the appeal had come about because the wrong tapes of the race had been made available and it was necessary to go back and request the correct material. Further, he explained that there was a delay in obtaining the written transcript. The Monday following the race meeting, 29 January, was Auckland Anniversary Day and the officers of the JCA in Cambridge were closed. This is apparently the explanation for the delay in the transcript being available.

--

--

3.4 NZTR has made no submission in support of an application for costs. It has simply notified the airfares incurred by Mr George, the senior stipendiary steward. The Tribunal believes that NZTR would have been put to some trouble and expense beyond the payment of the airfare and it is disappointing that no submission was made to address that. The airfare for Mr George was $279.70. The Executive Officer of the JCA has advised the costs incurred by the Authority were $946.00.

--

--

4. Discussion and Decision

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    --
    --

    --

  1. Ideally Ms Cropp and her advisers might have received the tape of the Thorndon Mile and the transcript somewhat earlier. Nevertheless that is the same tape which was played at the race day hearing. The transcript does no more than record what was said at the race day hearing in the presence of Ms Cropp. There is no question of any new material.
    2. --

    --

    --

    --

  2. The advice that the appeals were to be withdrawn was informal and very late. As earlier noted arrangements for hearing the appeal were well advanced. It follows from the decision to withdraw that Ms Cropp and her advisers must have concluded that the appeals had no prospect of success.
    3. --

    --

    --

    --

  3. In consequence of lodging the appeal and obtaining a stay of proceedings Ms Cropp was able to ride at Te Rapa on Saturday 3 February. Substantial stakes were on offer that day. In the Tribunal's view it is irrelevant that Ms Cropp did not have a successful day in terms of winners or placed horses ridden. What is plain is that an appeal lacking merit was lodged and a stay obtained which permitted Ms Cropp to accept mounts at a very significant race meeting.
    4. --

    --

    --

    --

  4. The Tribunal is satisfied that both NZTR and the JCA have been put to unnecessary expense, some but not all of which could have been avoided had the advice that the appeal(s) were to be abandoned been received earlier.
    5. --

    --

    --

    --

  5. While no submissions have been received for or on behalf of Ms Cropp since the hearing on 3 February the Tribunal has endeavoured to set out a fair account of what was said on that day by way of explanation for the very late notice that the appeals were to be withdrawn.
    6. --

    --

    --

    --

  6. In determining the correct approach to take the Tribunal has had regard to earlier decisions; in particular the Michael Walker v NZTR decision of 19 November 2002. That decision and the recent decision of the Appeal Tribunal in Francis Cooney v HRNZ were both drawn to the attention of the parties at the hearing on 3 February.
    7. --

    --

    --

    --

  7. The Tribunal has determined that this is an appropriate case to order costs. The most significant considerations are that the appeal(s) were withdrawn by the Appellant from which it must be concluded that they were without merit and, secondly, the advice in that regard was given very late. In fixing the quantum of costs the Tribunal considers that Ms Cropp should make a significant contribution towards the costs which have been incurred. Indemnity costs are not considered appropriate but the figure set should nevertheless reflect the real cost of the appeal process. The appellant will pay costs to NZTR in the sum of $200 and will pay costs to the Judicial Control Authority of $700. The filing fee in respect of the appeals is forfeited.
    8. --

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    Dated this 28th day of February 2007

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    Murray McKechnie

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    Chairman

    --

    --

    ----------------

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    Keith Hales

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