Auckland RC 26 December 2020 – R 7 – Chair, Mr G Jones
ID: JCA13352
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Auckland RC - 26 December 2020
Meet Chair:
GJones
Meet Committee Member 1:
BScott
Race Date:
2020/12/26
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
As Mr Innes admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
Penalty:
Mr Innes is fined $300.
Facts:
The Informant, Mr Oatham filed an Information pursuant to Rule 330(3)(c) alleging that Class A rider, Mr Innes failed to make the contracted weight for his mount EDIT in race number 7, the Stella Artois 1500 Championship Final ($80,000 stake).
Mr Innes was present at the hearing and confirmed his admission of the breach and he advised that he is familiar with the nature of the charge. The Information was endorsed to that effect.
Rule 330(3)(c) provides: “A rider shall not fail to ride a horse at the weight at which it is handicapped to carry”.
Mr Oatham advised that EDIT was handicapped to carry 54 kg and that prior to the commencement of the meeting, Mr Innes had made an arrangement with the trainer to ride up to 1 kg overweight. He said that at weigh out Mr Innes was slightly more than 1 kg overweight and a suitable replacement was not available. On that basis Mr Innes was permitted by Stewards to ride EDIT 1 kg overweight (at 55 kg).
By way of explanation Mr Innes said that he had ridden BELDARRA at 54.5 kg in an earlier race (r 3), but due to the hot weather he drank a small amount of water to hydrate and as a result his weight increased.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Oatham said that this is Mr Innes’ first breach of the Rule within the last 12 months period. The last breach having occurred on Boxing Day 2019 and was dealt with by way of Minor Infringement Notice (MIN). He said that a charge of this nature would normally be dealt with by way of a MIN, however, given that it was known and agreed to by Connections that Mr Innes may ride upwards of 1 kg overweight, Stewards should have been advised. Further, Mr Oatham said that EDIT was one of the favourites for the race and the betting public were entitled to know that the horse was likely to carry more weight than that disclosed in the racebook. He added that this was particularly so given that EDIT finished in fourth place, very close to the second and third placed horses. Stewards therefore elected to proceed by way of an Information as opposed to having the matter dealt with by way of MIN.
Mr Oatham submitted the breach could be dealt by way of fine. He suggested had authority been sought earlier to ride upwards of 1 kg overweight, Stewards permission may have been given or a replacement rider may have been able to be found.
Mr Innes agreed that a fine would be an appropriate penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
The MIN schedule establishes a $100 fine as the starting point for a first breach of this Rule. In circumstances where Stewards elect to file an Information, determination of penalties are fact dependant.
The Committee considered the submissions and for consistency took some guidance from previous penalties for similar breaches.
The Committee took into account the fact that the breach resulted in a well-favoured runner carrying overweight and this could have been avoided had permission been sought earlier to carry overweight. As a consequence, this put the betting public and indeed the Connections of the horse at a disadvantage. We have treated these as aggravating factors.
We also take note of the fact that Mr Innes was able to ride in the race for which he received his riding fee. Further, this breach occurred in a race with stake-money of $80,000. We apply no credit for his admission.
The Committee notes that Mr Innes was able to ride at 54.5 kg in an earlier race and that he since had to hydrate due to the warm weather. Although this does not excuse the breach, we accept that Mr Innes has an obligation to manage his health in such circumstances and we do have some sympathy for his plight.
Given the circumstance and balancing the interests of Mr Innes, other stakeholders and consistency we determined that a fine is an appropriate penalty.
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: 667b63ecab63adba4ad18e0cf483bdf5
informantnumber: A13439
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Failed to make contracted weight
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 27/12/2020
hearing_title: Auckland RC 26 December 2020 – R 7 – Chair, Mr G Jones
charge:
facts:
The Informant, Mr Oatham filed an Information pursuant to Rule 330(3)(c) alleging that Class A rider, Mr Innes failed to make the contracted weight for his mount EDIT in race number 7, the Stella Artois 1500 Championship Final ($80,000 stake).
Mr Innes was present at the hearing and confirmed his admission of the breach and he advised that he is familiar with the nature of the charge. The Information was endorsed to that effect.
Rule 330(3)(c) provides: “A rider shall not fail to ride a horse at the weight at which it is handicapped to carry”.
Mr Oatham advised that EDIT was handicapped to carry 54 kg and that prior to the commencement of the meeting, Mr Innes had made an arrangement with the trainer to ride up to 1 kg overweight. He said that at weigh out Mr Innes was slightly more than 1 kg overweight and a suitable replacement was not available. On that basis Mr Innes was permitted by Stewards to ride EDIT 1 kg overweight (at 55 kg).
By way of explanation Mr Innes said that he had ridden BELDARRA at 54.5 kg in an earlier race (r 3), but due to the hot weather he drank a small amount of water to hydrate and as a result his weight increased.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Innes admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Oatham said that this is Mr Innes’ first breach of the Rule within the last 12 months period. The last breach having occurred on Boxing Day 2019 and was dealt with by way of Minor Infringement Notice (MIN). He said that a charge of this nature would normally be dealt with by way of a MIN, however, given that it was known and agreed to by Connections that Mr Innes may ride upwards of 1 kg overweight, Stewards should have been advised. Further, Mr Oatham said that EDIT was one of the favourites for the race and the betting public were entitled to know that the horse was likely to carry more weight than that disclosed in the racebook. He added that this was particularly so given that EDIT finished in fourth place, very close to the second and third placed horses. Stewards therefore elected to proceed by way of an Information as opposed to having the matter dealt with by way of MIN.
Mr Oatham submitted the breach could be dealt by way of fine. He suggested had authority been sought earlier to ride upwards of 1 kg overweight, Stewards permission may have been given or a replacement rider may have been able to be found.
Mr Innes agreed that a fine would be an appropriate penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
The MIN schedule establishes a $100 fine as the starting point for a first breach of this Rule. In circumstances where Stewards elect to file an Information, determination of penalties are fact dependant.
The Committee considered the submissions and for consistency took some guidance from previous penalties for similar breaches.
The Committee took into account the fact that the breach resulted in a well-favoured runner carrying overweight and this could have been avoided had permission been sought earlier to carry overweight. As a consequence, this put the betting public and indeed the Connections of the horse at a disadvantage. We have treated these as aggravating factors.
We also take note of the fact that Mr Innes was able to ride in the race for which he received his riding fee. Further, this breach occurred in a race with stake-money of $80,000. We apply no credit for his admission.
The Committee notes that Mr Innes was able to ride at 54.5 kg in an earlier race and that he since had to hydrate due to the warm weather. Although this does not excuse the breach, we accept that Mr Innes has an obligation to manage his health in such circumstances and we do have some sympathy for his plight.
Given the circumstance and balancing the interests of Mr Innes, other stakeholders and consistency we determined that a fine is an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
Mr Innes is fined $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 330(3)(c)
Informant: Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr L Innes - Rider of EDIT
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: bc81c9d704877996582f26f06f47ab8f
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 074c6f57c9fa4091c69cf7c4ac4946a1
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 26/12/2020
meet_title: Auckland RC - 26 December 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: auckland-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: GJones
meet_pm1: BScott
meet_pm2: none
name: Auckland RC