Auckland TC 1 March 2019 – R 7 – Chair, Mr B J Scott
ID: JCA13259
Meet Title:
Auckland TC - 1 March 2019
Meet Chair:
BScott
Meet Committee Member 1:
GJones
Race Date:
2019/03/01
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is proved.
Penalty:
This Committee imposes a fine of $850.00 on Mr Abernethy.
Facts:
Following the running of the PASCOES THE JEWELLERS NORTHERN OAKS an Information was lodged by Chief Stipendiary Steward Mr N Ydgren against Licensed Open Horseman Mr S Abernethy alleging that Mr Abernethy used his whip when driving BEST WESTERN over the final 400 metres on more occasions than permitted under the Use of Whip Regulations.
The Use of Whip Regulations under part (b) provide : No Horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of " backhanders" and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Mr Abernethy was present at the Hearing and he acknowledged that he understood the Regulations and that he admitted the breach.
Mr Ydgren demonstrated the incident by use of the race films. He showed where BEST WESTERN was in the trail turning for home and Mr Abernethy moved his horse into the passing Lane. He then showed that Mr Abernethy used his whip 13 times and that he went on to win the race.
When asked by the Committee Mr Abernethy said he agreed with the number of 13 strikes.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Ydgren advised the Committee that Mr Abernethy had a previous charge under this Rule but that was outside the reset period and therefore he had a clear record as far as this charge was concerned.
He then referred to the Penalty Guide in the Regulations which provide for a fine of $200.00 for 11 to 13 strikes. Mr Ydgren then submitted that the Committee needed to take into account the fact that this was a Group 1 Race and that it was for a stake of $125,000.00. He said that these were aggravating factors and that there should be a substantial uplift in penalty. He referred the Committee to 3 previous charges against Ms N Rasmussen in a 2 month period in 2018 when she was fined $300.00 , $1000.00 and $2500.00 respectively. The second of those was in a standard race and the last of those charges was in the Group 1 NZ Trotting Cup for which she also received a 3 day suspension.
Mr Ydgren submitted that any fine in this case should be substantial and should be a deterrent to other horsemen. He submitted that a fine of $1000.00 was appropriate.
Mr Abernethy said that this charge was on a different scale to those faced by Ms Rasmussen because among other things the NZ Cup had a stake of $800,000.00. He submitted that the fine proposed by Mr Ydgren was too expensive. He said that there was a set Driving fee for all races but after it was pointed out to him by the Committee he acknowledged that not only would he receive the base driving fee but that he would also receive a percentage of the winning stake. That was a significant payment due to Mr Abernethy.
Mr Abernethy at the last moment suggested that a suspension of his Licence would be appropriate and Mr Ydgren submitted that if the Committee was to follow this course then any suspension would have to be for the number of drives that equated to $1000.00.
Reasons for Penalty:
The films clearly show the incident and Mr Abernethy has agreed with the number of strikes and therefore the facts are not in question. Mr Abernethy has admitted the breach but in the face of the compelling video evidence he had no option.
The Committee has reviewed the Whip Regulations and the Penalty Guide under those Regulations. The question for us is to then set an appropriate penalty which not only takes into account the aggravating factors submitted by Mr Ydgren but also acts as a deterrent to other drivers.
Mr Abernethy has submitted that a suspension of his Licence might be appropriate but we don't agree and we are going to deal with this matter by the imposition of a fine.
In assessing penalty we have taken into account the Group 1 status of the race and the total stakes and also the fact that Mr Abernethy won the race. These are aggravating factors as far as the Committee is concerned. We have noted that the winning margin was a neck and we have pointed out to Mr Abernethy that there have been many discussions in Racing (both Codes) about horses winning Races by small margins resulting from a breach of the Rules. Mr Abernethy to his credit acknowledged this. In this instance we have had to consider whether Mr Abernethy would have won the race if he hadn't have breached the Rules.
We agree with Mr Ydgren that there needs to be a deterrent penalty for a breach of the Rules in these circumstances.
We then have had to look at the appropriate uplift in penalty and in doing so we have assessed this situation against Ms Rasmussen's second of the charges referred to above.
We have advised Mr Abernethy that in our opinion the fine submitted by Mr Ydgren was slightly on the high side and we believe that a fine of $850.00 was appropriate and would act as a sufficient deterrent.
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: 58c43322fd1bff967390af3074dd1a92
informantnumber: A10725
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive use of the Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 03/03/2019
hearing_title: Auckland TC 1 March 2019 - R 7 - Chair, Mr B J Scott
charge:
facts:
Following the running of the PASCOES THE JEWELLERS NORTHERN OAKS an Information was lodged by Chief Stipendiary Steward Mr N Ydgren against Licensed Open Horseman Mr S Abernethy alleging that Mr Abernethy used his whip when driving BEST WESTERN over the final 400 metres on more occasions than permitted under the Use of Whip Regulations.
The Use of Whip Regulations under part (b) provide : No Horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of " backhanders" and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Mr Abernethy was present at the Hearing and he acknowledged that he understood the Regulations and that he admitted the breach.
Mr Ydgren demonstrated the incident by use of the race films. He showed where BEST WESTERN was in the trail turning for home and Mr Abernethy moved his horse into the passing Lane. He then showed that Mr Abernethy used his whip 13 times and that he went on to win the race.
When asked by the Committee Mr Abernethy said he agreed with the number of 13 strikes.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Ydgren advised the Committee that Mr Abernethy had a previous charge under this Rule but that was outside the reset period and therefore he had a clear record as far as this charge was concerned.
He then referred to the Penalty Guide in the Regulations which provide for a fine of $200.00 for 11 to 13 strikes. Mr Ydgren then submitted that the Committee needed to take into account the fact that this was a Group 1 Race and that it was for a stake of $125,000.00. He said that these were aggravating factors and that there should be a substantial uplift in penalty. He referred the Committee to 3 previous charges against Ms N Rasmussen in a 2 month period in 2018 when she was fined $300.00 , $1000.00 and $2500.00 respectively. The second of those was in a standard race and the last of those charges was in the Group 1 NZ Trotting Cup for which she also received a 3 day suspension.
Mr Ydgren submitted that any fine in this case should be substantial and should be a deterrent to other horsemen. He submitted that a fine of $1000.00 was appropriate.
Mr Abernethy said that this charge was on a different scale to those faced by Ms Rasmussen because among other things the NZ Cup had a stake of $800,000.00. He submitted that the fine proposed by Mr Ydgren was too expensive. He said that there was a set Driving fee for all races but after it was pointed out to him by the Committee he acknowledged that not only would he receive the base driving fee but that he would also receive a percentage of the winning stake. That was a significant payment due to Mr Abernethy.
Mr Abernethy at the last moment suggested that a suspension of his Licence would be appropriate and Mr Ydgren submitted that if the Committee was to follow this course then any suspension would have to be for the number of drives that equated to $1000.00.
reasonsforpenalty:
The films clearly show the incident and Mr Abernethy has agreed with the number of strikes and therefore the facts are not in question. Mr Abernethy has admitted the breach but in the face of the compelling video evidence he had no option.
The Committee has reviewed the Whip Regulations and the Penalty Guide under those Regulations. The question for us is to then set an appropriate penalty which not only takes into account the aggravating factors submitted by Mr Ydgren but also acts as a deterrent to other drivers.
Mr Abernethy has submitted that a suspension of his Licence might be appropriate but we don't agree and we are going to deal with this matter by the imposition of a fine.
In assessing penalty we have taken into account the Group 1 status of the race and the total stakes and also the fact that Mr Abernethy won the race. These are aggravating factors as far as the Committee is concerned. We have noted that the winning margin was a neck and we have pointed out to Mr Abernethy that there have been many discussions in Racing (both Codes) about horses winning Races by small margins resulting from a breach of the Rules. Mr Abernethy to his credit acknowledged this. In this instance we have had to consider whether Mr Abernethy would have won the race if he hadn't have breached the Rules.
We agree with Mr Ydgren that there needs to be a deterrent penalty for a breach of the Rules in these circumstances.
We then have had to look at the appropriate uplift in penalty and in doing so we have assessed this situation against Ms Rasmussen's second of the charges referred to above.
We have advised Mr Abernethy that in our opinion the fine submitted by Mr Ydgren was slightly on the high side and we believe that a fine of $850.00 was appropriate and would act as a sufficient deterrent.
penalty:
This Committee imposes a fine of $850.00 on Mr Abernethy.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(2)
Informant: Mr N Ydgren - Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Abernethy - Licensed Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 83ab4aa8fe7176a3f36149d83d19bd0d
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: 6dd3e2890b33e0ff7d4b4517b8e698a5
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 01/03/2019
meet_title: Auckland TC - 1 March 2019
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: auckland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: BScott
meet_pm1: GJones
meet_pm2: none
name: Auckland TC