Archive Decision

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Auckland TC 12 August 2016 – R 2 – Chair, Mr B Scott

ID: JCA11478

Applicant:
Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Mr J McKinnon - Junior Driver

Other Person:
Mr R J Dunn - Licensed Trainer supporting Mr McKinnon

Information Number:
A7960

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Careless Driving

Rules:
Rule 869(3)(b)

Plea:
admitted

Meet Title:
Auckland TC - 12 August 2016

Meet Chair:
BScott

Meet Committee Member 1:
AGodsalve

Race Date:
2016/08/12

Race Number:
R2

Decision:

The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is upheld.

Penalty:

The Committee fines Mr McKinnon the sum of $250.00.

Facts:

Following the running of the ALABAR MOBILE PACE an Information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay against Junior Driver Mr J McKinnon alleging that Mr McKinnon drove WHITECLIFF CHAPEL carelessly near the 700 metres mark by contacting the offside sulky wheel of SPEAK UP causing his own horse to break for a few strides.

Mr McKinnon was present at the Hearing and he acknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the breach.

Mr RJ Dunn Senior Licensed Trainer was present in support of Mr McKinnon.

Mr Mulcay demonstrated the incident by use of the race films and showed where approaching the 700 metres mark Mr McKinnon started to move out but in doing so he contacted the offside sulky wheel of SPEAK UP and this caused his own horse to break for a few strides.

Mr McKinnon said that he was instructed to "drive his horse cold" but he said that approaching the 700 metres mark his horse "got up on the bit" so he made the decision to come out. He said she improved too quick and contacted the sulky wheel of Mr Abernethy's horse (SPEAK UP).

Mr Dunn said that Mr McKinnon tried to do the correct thing but his horse got slightly keen and he couldn't get out at the right time. He said that the chances of Mr McKinnon's horse were not significantly affected .

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Mulcay in his penalty submissions said that the incident was low range and the consequential effects of the incident were minimal.

He said that the Committee should take into account Mr McKinnon's position as a Junior Driver and that he has a good record.

Mr Mulcay said that the matter should be dealt with by way of a moderate fine. He referred to the starting point penalty in the JCA Guidelines for Rule 869(4) which is $200.00 but the Committee pointed out that the charge was under Rule 869(3)(b) and therefore the starting point penalty under that Rule of $500.00 should be used.

Mr Dunn said that the $500.00 starting point penalty was fair for a charge under this Rule. He did say that he had seen far worse incidents. He then said that Mr McKinnon will learn from this incident and will be more aware next time. He thought that the incident was at the lower end and asked the Committee to give credit for the mitigating factors as highlighted by Mr Mulcay.

Mr McKinnon advised the Committee that he preferred a fine to a suspension.

Reasons for Penalty:

The Committee has taken into account all matters presented to it. We advised Mr McKinnon that the aggravating factors are that he was in control of the horse and he hit a wheel. It is a Driver's responsibility to avoid this.

We have advised Mr McKinnon that we give him credit for his admission of the breach, his position as a Junior Driver, his good record and the fact that the incident was low range. In our view it was a moot point as to whether his horse was affected or not.

We deal with this by way of a fine and we have taken the starting point penalty in the JCA Guidelines and have then applied the aggravating and mitigating factors. We agree that the incident is low range.

We also have the benefit of JCA Penalty schedules and we are aware of the need for consistency.

We believe that a fine of $250.00 is appropriate.

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: 21771b57d3935dde8ab4297b380a3461


informantnumber: A7960


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Careless Driving


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 24/08/2016


hearing_title: Auckland TC 12 August 2016 - R 2 - Chair, Mr B Scott


charge:


facts:

Following the running of the ALABAR MOBILE PACE an Information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay against Junior Driver Mr J McKinnon alleging that Mr McKinnon drove WHITECLIFF CHAPEL carelessly near the 700 metres mark by contacting the offside sulky wheel of SPEAK UP causing his own horse to break for a few strides.

Mr McKinnon was present at the Hearing and he acknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the breach.

Mr RJ Dunn Senior Licensed Trainer was present in support of Mr McKinnon.

Mr Mulcay demonstrated the incident by use of the race films and showed where approaching the 700 metres mark Mr McKinnon started to move out but in doing so he contacted the offside sulky wheel of SPEAK UP and this caused his own horse to break for a few strides.

Mr McKinnon said that he was instructed to "drive his horse cold" but he said that approaching the 700 metres mark his horse "got up on the bit" so he made the decision to come out. He said she improved too quick and contacted the sulky wheel of Mr Abernethy's horse (SPEAK UP).

Mr Dunn said that Mr McKinnon tried to do the correct thing but his horse got slightly keen and he couldn't get out at the right time. He said that the chances of Mr McKinnon's horse were not significantly affected .


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

The breach is admitted and therefore the charge is upheld.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Mulcay in his penalty submissions said that the incident was low range and the consequential effects of the incident were minimal.

He said that the Committee should take into account Mr McKinnon's position as a Junior Driver and that he has a good record.

Mr Mulcay said that the matter should be dealt with by way of a moderate fine. He referred to the starting point penalty in the JCA Guidelines for Rule 869(4) which is $200.00 but the Committee pointed out that the charge was under Rule 869(3)(b) and therefore the starting point penalty under that Rule of $500.00 should be used.

Mr Dunn said that the $500.00 starting point penalty was fair for a charge under this Rule. He did say that he had seen far worse incidents. He then said that Mr McKinnon will learn from this incident and will be more aware next time. He thought that the incident was at the lower end and asked the Committee to give credit for the mitigating factors as highlighted by Mr Mulcay.

Mr McKinnon advised the Committee that he preferred a fine to a suspension.


reasonsforpenalty:

The Committee has taken into account all matters presented to it. We advised Mr McKinnon that the aggravating factors are that he was in control of the horse and he hit a wheel. It is a Driver's responsibility to avoid this.

We have advised Mr McKinnon that we give him credit for his admission of the breach, his position as a Junior Driver, his good record and the fact that the incident was low range. In our view it was a moot point as to whether his horse was affected or not.

We deal with this by way of a fine and we have taken the starting point penalty in the JCA Guidelines and have then applied the aggravating and mitigating factors. We agree that the incident is low range.

We also have the benefit of JCA Penalty schedules and we are aware of the need for consistency.

We believe that a fine of $250.00 is appropriate.


penalty:

The Committee fines Mr McKinnon the sum of $250.00.


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: Rule 869(3)(b)


Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: Mr J McKinnon - Junior Driver


Otherperson: Mr R J Dunn - Licensed Trainer supporting Mr McKinnon


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: 40be8c51fdc8bd789c268d55c3055972


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: 9f72674b3d8a7706165b45708aeb0238


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 12/08/2016


meet_title: Auckland TC - 12 August 2016


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: auckland-tc


meet_racingtype: harness-racing


meet_chair: BScott


meet_pm1: AGodsalve


meet_pm2: none


name: Auckland TC