Auckland RC 25 January 2020 – R 6 – Chair, Mr A Dooley
ID: JCA16410
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Auckland RC - 25 January 2020
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
GJones
Race Date:
2020/01/25
Race Number:
R6
Decision:
As Mr McDonald admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
Penalty:
The Committee granted a deferment to Mr McDonald’s suspension pursuant to Rule 1106(2).
Accordingly, Mr McDonald had his license to ride in races suspended for a period to commence after racing on 1 February and conclude after racing on 15 February 2020.
Subsequent to the penalty being relayed to Mr McDonald he contacted Mr Oatham requesting that the Judicial Committee consider changing the dates of the suspension to commence after racing on 27 January. Mr McDonald told the Committee that he had been in discussion with his Manager who had advised him that any proposed suspension could start after racing on 27 January. Mr Oatham contacted the Stipendiary Stewards in Sydney and there was no objection on their part. Mr Oatham confirmed that he had no objection to the amendment of the dates.
Due to their being no objection to Mr McDonald’s request his Jockey’s Licence was suspended by the Judicial Committee from the close of racing on 27 January up to the conclusion of racing on 13 February 2020. This equates to 9 national New Zealand riding days and in addition a $750 fine was imposed.
Facts:
Following the running of race 6, Karaka Million 3YO Classic, (Restricted Listed Race) an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (1)(d). The Informant, Mr Oatham, alleged that Mr McDonald permitted his mount CONQUEROR to shift out near the 400 metres when not sufficiently clear of HASSTOBEGOOD which was contacted and forced wider.
Rule 638(1) (d) provides: A Rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Judicial Committee considers to be careless.
Mr McDonald said that he understood the Rule and confirmed that he admitted the breach.
Using all available video footage Senior Stipendiary Steward Mr Williamson demonstrated the incident that gave rise to this charge and identified all horses and riders concerned. He told the Committee that nearing the home turn CONQUEROR (J McDonald) and HASSTOBEGOOD (V Colgan) were racing in a one-off position and three-off positions, respectively. He identified that STATELINE (S Weatherley) was racing outside of OUR CREED (G Grylls). He said that STATELINE was laying out on the turn.
Mr Williamson said Mr McDonald directed his mount out into a gap between STATELINE and HASSTOBEGOOD when there was insufficient to do so. CONQUEROR made contact with HASSTOBEGOOD who became unbalanced and forced out wider on the track. He added that STATELINE did not make the corner into the straight well and contributed to the incident.
In response Mr McDonald said that he agreed with Mr Williamson’s interpretation of the incident. He said there were contributing factors; it was tight and although contact was made the chances of the horses involved were not compromised.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Oatham said Mr McDonald has an excellent record with his last suspension for careless riding having occurred on 4 August 2018. He said that although STATELINE did lay out there was a fine line between competitive and careless riding. He said on this occasion, Mr McDonald crossed that line which was a risk that he took.
Mr Oatham said Stewards when assessing the totality of the incident placed Mr McDonald’s level of carelessness at the low end; adding that Mr McDonald should be given credit for his admission of the breach and excellent record. He added that a penalty uplift should be applied in recognition of the fact the breach occurred in a Restricted Listed Race with stake money of $1 million dollars.
In response Mr McDonald initially advised he has confirmed commitments up until 1 February 2020.
In terms of any proposed penalty Mr McDonald asked the Committee to have regard for his impeccable record having not incurred a suspension for a considerable period during which time he has ridden in races all over the world. He said that this breach was simply an error of judgement.
The Committee told Mr McDonald that for the purpose of calculating the penalty where a visiting international rider is facing a term of suspension, the policy is that the rider shall be treated as if they were a New Zealand based rider.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
On reviewing the available films, the Committee found that Mr McDonald angled CONQUEROR outwards near the 400 metres when not the required distance clear of HASSTOBEGOOD. As a result CONQUEROR made firm contact with HASSTOBEGOOD. As a consequence HASSTOBEGOOD was forced outwards on the turn and hampered RHAEGAR, AALALUNE and HARLECH.
The Committee deemed Mr McDonald’s carelessness to be low to mid-range and adopted a 7-day starting point. This is in conformity with the Penalty Guide for Judicial Committees which recommends 6 Day (low) and 8 day (mid) national day starting points. Low to mid, at 7 days sits in between.
Under the provisions of Rule 920(2) the aggravating factors were the breach occurred in a Restricted Listed Race worth 1 million dollars which is the equal richest race on the New Zealand racing calendar. For this we applied a 4 day uplift in the penalty.
The mitigating factors were Mr McDoanld’s admission of the breach and his excellent record for a busy rider. For these combined factors Mr McDonald was afforded a 2 day reduction in penalty.
After taking into account all the above factors the Committee considered that an appropriate suspension was 9 national riding days.
In addition, noting that Mr McDonald finished in second place, with $150,000 stake money payable for second place, we deemed it appropriate that he receive a fine.
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: b0c8eedf228c9d636dca10372edf4200
informantnumber: A13403
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Riding
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 26/01/2020
hearing_title: Auckland RC 25 January 2020 - R 6 - Chair, Mr A Dooley
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 6, Karaka Million 3YO Classic, (Restricted Listed Race) an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (1)(d). The Informant, Mr Oatham, alleged that Mr McDonald permitted his mount CONQUEROR to shift out near the 400 metres when not sufficiently clear of HASSTOBEGOOD which was contacted and forced wider.
Rule 638(1) (d) provides: A Rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Judicial Committee considers to be careless.
Mr McDonald said that he understood the Rule and confirmed that he admitted the breach.
Using all available video footage Senior Stipendiary Steward Mr Williamson demonstrated the incident that gave rise to this charge and identified all horses and riders concerned. He told the Committee that nearing the home turn CONQUEROR (J McDonald) and HASSTOBEGOOD (V Colgan) were racing in a one-off position and three-off positions, respectively. He identified that STATELINE (S Weatherley) was racing outside of OUR CREED (G Grylls). He said that STATELINE was laying out on the turn.
Mr Williamson said Mr McDonald directed his mount out into a gap between STATELINE and HASSTOBEGOOD when there was insufficient to do so. CONQUEROR made contact with HASSTOBEGOOD who became unbalanced and forced out wider on the track. He added that STATELINE did not make the corner into the straight well and contributed to the incident.
In response Mr McDonald said that he agreed with Mr Williamson’s interpretation of the incident. He said there were contributing factors; it was tight and although contact was made the chances of the horses involved were not compromised.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr McDonald admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Oatham said Mr McDonald has an excellent record with his last suspension for careless riding having occurred on 4 August 2018. He said that although STATELINE did lay out there was a fine line between competitive and careless riding. He said on this occasion, Mr McDonald crossed that line which was a risk that he took.
Mr Oatham said Stewards when assessing the totality of the incident placed Mr McDonald’s level of carelessness at the low end; adding that Mr McDonald should be given credit for his admission of the breach and excellent record. He added that a penalty uplift should be applied in recognition of the fact the breach occurred in a Restricted Listed Race with stake money of $1 million dollars.
In response Mr McDonald initially advised he has confirmed commitments up until 1 February 2020.
In terms of any proposed penalty Mr McDonald asked the Committee to have regard for his impeccable record having not incurred a suspension for a considerable period during which time he has ridden in races all over the world. He said that this breach was simply an error of judgement.
The Committee told Mr McDonald that for the purpose of calculating the penalty where a visiting international rider is facing a term of suspension, the policy is that the rider shall be treated as if they were a New Zealand based rider.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented.
On reviewing the available films, the Committee found that Mr McDonald angled CONQUEROR outwards near the 400 metres when not the required distance clear of HASSTOBEGOOD. As a result CONQUEROR made firm contact with HASSTOBEGOOD. As a consequence HASSTOBEGOOD was forced outwards on the turn and hampered RHAEGAR, AALALUNE and HARLECH.
The Committee deemed Mr McDonald’s carelessness to be low to mid-range and adopted a 7-day starting point. This is in conformity with the Penalty Guide for Judicial Committees which recommends 6 Day (low) and 8 day (mid) national day starting points. Low to mid, at 7 days sits in between.
Under the provisions of Rule 920(2) the aggravating factors were the breach occurred in a Restricted Listed Race worth 1 million dollars which is the equal richest race on the New Zealand racing calendar. For this we applied a 4 day uplift in the penalty.
The mitigating factors were Mr McDoanld’s admission of the breach and his excellent record for a busy rider. For these combined factors Mr McDonald was afforded a 2 day reduction in penalty.
After taking into account all the above factors the Committee considered that an appropriate suspension was 9 national riding days.
In addition, noting that Mr McDonald finished in second place, with $150,000 stake money payable for second place, we deemed it appropriate that he receive a fine.
penalty:
The Committee granted a deferment to Mr McDonald’s suspension pursuant to Rule 1106(2).
Accordingly, Mr McDonald had his license to ride in races suspended for a period to commence after racing on 1 February and conclude after racing on 15 February 2020.
Subsequent to the penalty being relayed to Mr McDonald he contacted Mr Oatham requesting that the Judicial Committee consider changing the dates of the suspension to commence after racing on 27 January. Mr McDonald told the Committee that he had been in discussion with his Manager who had advised him that any proposed suspension could start after racing on 27 January. Mr Oatham contacted the Stipendiary Stewards in Sydney and there was no objection on their part. Mr Oatham confirmed that he had no objection to the amendment of the dates.
Due to their being no objection to Mr McDonald’s request his Jockey’s Licence was suspended by the Judicial Committee from the close of racing on 27 January up to the conclusion of racing on 13 February 2020. This equates to 9 national New Zealand riding days and in addition a $750 fine was imposed.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(1)(d)
Informant: Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr J McDonald - Class A Rider
Otherperson: Mr M Williamson - Senior Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
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race_title: R6
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meetdate: 25/01/2020
meet_title: Auckland RC - 25 January 2020
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