Auckland TC 15 September 2017 – R 9 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA14567
Meet Title:
Auckland TC - 15 September 2017
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
ASmith
Race Date:
2017/09/15
Race Number:
R9
Decision:
As this breach has been admitted we found the charge proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly we impose a fine of $300 on Dr Chin.
Facts:
Following the running of race 9, the Coca-Cola Handicap Trot 2700m, an Information was lodged by Mr Mulcay alleging that Dr L Chin, driving DJOKOVIC used his whip excessively over the final stages of the race.
Dr Chin was not present at the hearing. He indicated to the Stewards that he admitted the breach, and that he was happy for the matter of penalty to be determined in his absence.
Rule 869(2)(a) provides that 'No horseman shall in any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner'.
The Use of Whip Guidelines, effective from 1 December 2016 provide that:
Excessive use of the whip means too much, and relates to the number of times and/or the force with which the whip is used.
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400m of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Using the available films Mr Mulcay identified the horse DJOKOVIC as it neared the final 200m of the race. DJOKOVIC was trailing the leader at that time. From about the 200m mark to the finish Dr Chin then struck the horse 11 times. Mr Mulcay said the strikes were not particularly forceful, however the whip use was outside the Guidelines referred to earlier. The horse finished in 4th place.
As stated Dr Chin was not present at the hearing.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay referred to the JCA Penalty Guide which provides a starting point of a fine of $500 or a 2 day suspension for a first breach of this Rule. He stated that Dr Chin had not previously breached the Rule within the previous 12 months, and in fact had only recently started carrying a whip on raceday. Mr Mulcay submitted that the Stewards believed this breach could be dealt with by way of a fine.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee confirmed that the starting point for a first breach of this Rule is a $500 fine or a 2 day suspension. We concur with Mr Mulcay in that we felt the whip use, while excessive under the Guidelines, was not particuarly onerous. Most of the strikes applied by Dr Chin were not at all forceful. We confirmed that Dr Chin did not have any breach of this Rule recorded against him in the previous 12 months. The JCA Committees throughout New Zealand have been consistent in applying a fine for a first breach of this Rule where no other matters exist where a suspension or a higher fine may exist. We therefore determined that we would fine Dr Chin $300 for this breach.
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: 9392713431e25ccdd7802058daf96218
informantnumber: A9132
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excess use of whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 17/09/2017
hearing_title: Auckland TC 15 September 2017 - R 9 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 9, the Coca-Cola Handicap Trot 2700m, an Information was lodged by Mr Mulcay alleging that Dr L Chin, driving DJOKOVIC used his whip excessively over the final stages of the race.
Dr Chin was not present at the hearing. He indicated to the Stewards that he admitted the breach, and that he was happy for the matter of penalty to be determined in his absence.
Rule 869(2)(a) provides that 'No horseman shall in any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner'.
The Use of Whip Guidelines, effective from 1 December 2016 provide that:
Excessive use of the whip means too much, and relates to the number of times and/or the force with which the whip is used.
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400m of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Using the available films Mr Mulcay identified the horse DJOKOVIC as it neared the final 200m of the race. DJOKOVIC was trailing the leader at that time. From about the 200m mark to the finish Dr Chin then struck the horse 11 times. Mr Mulcay said the strikes were not particularly forceful, however the whip use was outside the Guidelines referred to earlier. The horse finished in 4th place.
As stated Dr Chin was not present at the hearing.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As this breach has been admitted we found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay referred to the JCA Penalty Guide which provides a starting point of a fine of $500 or a 2 day suspension for a first breach of this Rule. He stated that Dr Chin had not previously breached the Rule within the previous 12 months, and in fact had only recently started carrying a whip on raceday. Mr Mulcay submitted that the Stewards believed this breach could be dealt with by way of a fine.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee confirmed that the starting point for a first breach of this Rule is a $500 fine or a 2 day suspension. We concur with Mr Mulcay in that we felt the whip use, while excessive under the Guidelines, was not particuarly onerous. Most of the strikes applied by Dr Chin were not at all forceful. We confirmed that Dr Chin did not have any breach of this Rule recorded against him in the previous 12 months. The JCA Committees throughout New Zealand have been consistent in applying a fine for a first breach of this Rule where no other matters exist where a suspension or a higher fine may exist. We therefore determined that we would fine Dr Chin $300 for this breach.
penalty:
Accordingly we impose a fine of $300 on Dr Chin.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(2)(a)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Dr L Ching - Licensed Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 71e260525e7c97cfab4d4bebd651a47d
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R9
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: d700d9cceae6319e64fa8f9b491ddf45
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 15/09/2017
meet_title: Auckland TC - 15 September 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: auckland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: ASmith
meet_pm2: none
name: Auckland TC