Ashburton TC 4 February 2017 – R 2 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA12857
Meet Title:
Ashburton TC - 4 February 2017
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
DJackson
Race Date:
2017/02/04
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
The charge is dismissed.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 2, Ashburton Trust Mobile Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Junior Driver, Miss K A Butt, alleging that, as the driver of LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN in the race, she “used her whip excessively over the final 400 metres”.
Miss Butt was present at the hearing of the information and she indicated that she denied the charge. She was assisted at the hearing by Licensed Open Horseman, Mr J W Cox.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:-
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Those Guidelines further provide that “use of the whip” is “free of the rein”.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Renault showed a video replay of the final stages of the race. He pointed out LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN, driven by Miss Butt, racing three places back on the outside as the field entered the final straight. Mr Renault said that Stewards were alleging that, from that point, Miss Butt used her whip eleven times, free of the rein, more than the ten times permitted by the guidelines and, therefore, excessively. He said that Miss Butt was denying the charge on the basis that the alleged first strike did not amount to “use of the whip”. Miss Butt would argue that, for that initial strike, her whip hand was on the rein, Mr Renault said.
Mr Renault returned to the video replay and submitted that Miss Butt could be seen to turn her whip and use it, free of the rein. The replay of that part of the race was played repeatedly. Mr Renault conceded that Miss Butt had crossed the reins shortly after the first strike.
Miss Butt confirmed that she was disputing Mr Renault’s allegation that the first strike in question was made free of the rein. She said that she had pulled her horse out, given it “a wee tap” with the rein in hand, crossed the reins into her whip hand, activated the gear with her other hand, put her reins back in that hand and commenced driving the horse out. Miss Butt acknowledged that there were ten later strikes with the whip, which were all free of the rein, after the strike in question.
Mr Cox submitted that the first strike, if it was free of the rein as alleged by the Stewards, was different from the other ten strikes. That first strike was a “slap” with the rein and the whip prior to activating the gear. Miss Butt had not taken her arm right back, as that cannot be done if the reins are in the hand, Mr Cox submitted. Mr Renault conceded that the first strike was not as hard as the subsequent strikes but maintained it was still free of the rein.
Reasons for Decision:
The sole issue for the Committee to determine was one of fact - whether the first strike of the whip, the first of eleven by Miss Butt, was made free of the rein, as alleged by the Stewards, or with the reins in her hand, as claimed by Miss Butt. If the former, then the eleven strikes were in excess of the guidelines threshold but, if the latter, that strike is to be excluded from the count and the remaining ten strikes were then within the guidelines.
We heard conflicting evidence and submissions on that precise issue from Mr Renault on the one hand and Miss Butt and Mr Cox on the other hand. In most instances that issue could be resolved by careful viewing of the video replay. However, in this case the video replay was inconclusive, as the strike in question was at the top of the straight. Mr Renault had told us that there were no other helpful replays available.
We found Miss Butt’s explanation to be quite plausible and her movements on the replay were not inconsistent with that explanation.
There was, therefore, some doubt as to the fact of whether that initial strike, the first of eleven, was free of the rein (in which case it was to be included in the count) or with the rein in the whip hand (in which case it was to be excluded).
Miss Butt is entitled to the benefit of that considerable doubt. The Committee is not satisfied that she had used her whip in an excessive manner (more than ten times) as alleged.
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: 61a3d04e2ff860921bd23b2fc0d61513
informantnumber: A6279
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of Whip
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 0
decisiondate: 06/02/2017
hearing_title: Ashburton TC 4 February 2017 - R 2 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 2, Ashburton Trust Mobile Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Junior Driver, Miss K A Butt, alleging that, as the driver of LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN in the race, she “used her whip excessively over the final 400 metres”.
Miss Butt was present at the hearing of the information and she indicated that she denied the charge. She was assisted at the hearing by Licensed Open Horseman, Mr J W Cox.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:-
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Those Guidelines further provide that “use of the whip” is “free of the rein”.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Renault showed a video replay of the final stages of the race. He pointed out LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN, driven by Miss Butt, racing three places back on the outside as the field entered the final straight. Mr Renault said that Stewards were alleging that, from that point, Miss Butt used her whip eleven times, free of the rein, more than the ten times permitted by the guidelines and, therefore, excessively. He said that Miss Butt was denying the charge on the basis that the alleged first strike did not amount to “use of the whip”. Miss Butt would argue that, for that initial strike, her whip hand was on the rein, Mr Renault said.
Mr Renault returned to the video replay and submitted that Miss Butt could be seen to turn her whip and use it, free of the rein. The replay of that part of the race was played repeatedly. Mr Renault conceded that Miss Butt had crossed the reins shortly after the first strike.
Miss Butt confirmed that she was disputing Mr Renault’s allegation that the first strike in question was made free of the rein. She said that she had pulled her horse out, given it “a wee tap” with the rein in hand, crossed the reins into her whip hand, activated the gear with her other hand, put her reins back in that hand and commenced driving the horse out. Miss Butt acknowledged that there were ten later strikes with the whip, which were all free of the rein, after the strike in question.
Mr Cox submitted that the first strike, if it was free of the rein as alleged by the Stewards, was different from the other ten strikes. That first strike was a “slap” with the rein and the whip prior to activating the gear. Miss Butt had not taken her arm right back, as that cannot be done if the reins are in the hand, Mr Cox submitted. Mr Renault conceded that the first strike was not as hard as the subsequent strikes but maintained it was still free of the rein.
reasonsfordecision:
The sole issue for the Committee to determine was one of fact - whether the first strike of the whip, the first of eleven by Miss Butt, was made free of the rein, as alleged by the Stewards, or with the reins in her hand, as claimed by Miss Butt. If the former, then the eleven strikes were in excess of the guidelines threshold but, if the latter, that strike is to be excluded from the count and the remaining ten strikes were then within the guidelines.
We heard conflicting evidence and submissions on that precise issue from Mr Renault on the one hand and Miss Butt and Mr Cox on the other hand. In most instances that issue could be resolved by careful viewing of the video replay. However, in this case the video replay was inconclusive, as the strike in question was at the top of the straight. Mr Renault had told us that there were no other helpful replays available.
We found Miss Butt’s explanation to be quite plausible and her movements on the replay were not inconsistent with that explanation.
There was, therefore, some doubt as to the fact of whether that initial strike, the first of eleven, was free of the rein (in which case it was to be included in the count) or with the rein in the whip hand (in which case it was to be excluded).
Miss Butt is entitled to the benefit of that considerable doubt. The Committee is not satisfied that she had used her whip in an excessive manner (more than ten times) as alleged.
Decision:
The charge is dismissed.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: S P Renault, Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: K A Butt, Licensed Junior Driver
Otherperson: J W Cox, Licensed Open Driver
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: dcdb06ebe32e914794abfc78a33efb81
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: f4e9efbd91074b9a18131eaa8580eeba
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 04/02/2017
meet_title: Ashburton TC - 4 February 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: ashburton-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: DJackson
meet_pm2: none
name: Ashburton TC