Auckland TC 20 April 2012 – R 6
ID: JCA13769
Meet Title:
Auckland TC - 20 April 2012
Meet Chair:
GJones
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Race Date:
2012/04/20
Race Number:
R6
Decision:
The charge is admitted and is therefore proved.
Penalty:
A fine of $200 is imposed by the Committee.
Charge:
The information alleges that Trainers C and D Butt “presented Opulent without the notified blinds”.
Facts:
Mr Van Kan appeared on behalf of the Informant. He told the Judicial Committee (“the Committee”) that Mr D Butt presented Opulent for race six without notified gear, namely ‘blinds’.
Mr Van Kan said that Opulent last raced at Alexandra Park on 9 March 2012 with gear that had previously been notified including ‘deafeners and blinds’.
Rule 865 Provides that:
(1) The trainer or person in control of a horse shall give notice, in the manner prescribed in the Approved Gear Regulations, of the notifiable gear to be worn by a horse in a totalisator race no later than the official deadline for the notification of drivers at the race meeting in which a horse is entered.
(2) Every horse entered in a totalisator race shall be presented in the assembly area prior to the race in the same notifiable gear as that notified under sub-rule (1).
Removable deafeners are included in the schedule of Notifiable Gear (as published on the HNZ website) effective 17 October 2011.
In response to a question from the Committee Mr Van Kan said that prior to the start of the race he noticed that Opulent did have blinds and that he asked Mr Butt if he wanted to return to the stabling area to place the blinds on. He said that Mr Butt declined his offer.
Mr Butt elected not to appear at the hearing and on that basis the Committee was unable to assess the reason for the gear change.
Submissions for Penalty:
On behalf of the informant Mr Van Kan submitted that a breach of this particular Rule would ordinarily be dealt with by way of the Minor Infringement System (MIS), but due to the fact that the Butt partnership had breached Rule 865(2) on two previous occasions in the past 12 months the matter was required to be referred to the Committee.
The first breach was on 17 May 2011 and the second was 16 December 2011. Mr Van Kan submitted that this breach ought to be dealt with by way of a $100 fine. In support of his submission Mr Van Kan advised the Committee that two recent decisions relating to a breach of this rule under similar circumstances had attracted a fine of $100.
No submissions as to penalty were lodged on behalf of the Respondents.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee gave careful consideration to the submissions of Mr Van Kan. We took the view that a $100 fine for the third breach of this rule within a 12 month period was inadequate.
Under the MIS a breach of this rule would normally attract a fine of $100; however we feel that this matter must be treated with a more substantial fine.
The Committee took into account the fact that this was a Group 1 Race which carried significant stake money ($120,000). We also noted that Opulent last raced on 9 March 2012 in notified gear and finished in 5th place (out of nine starters). We are unable to assess whether or not the gear change had an impact on Opulent’s improved form, but we feel that the betting public are entitled to have placed before them all available information, including gear changes.
The Committee also noted that on the two previous charges the Butt partnership was fined $200 (17/5/11) and $150 (16/12/11).
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: 62303a8232abb7fda1e8987b73ee1f3d
informantnumber: 2303
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 18/04/2012
hearing_title: Auckland TC 20 April 2012 - R 6
charge:
The information alleges that Trainers C and D Butt “presented Opulent without the notified blinds”.
facts:
Mr Van Kan appeared on behalf of the Informant. He told the Judicial Committee (“the Committee”) that Mr D Butt presented Opulent for race six without notified gear, namely ‘blinds’.
Mr Van Kan said that Opulent last raced at Alexandra Park on 9 March 2012 with gear that had previously been notified including ‘deafeners and blinds’.
Rule 865 Provides that:
(1) The trainer or person in control of a horse shall give notice, in the manner prescribed in the Approved Gear Regulations, of the notifiable gear to be worn by a horse in a totalisator race no later than the official deadline for the notification of drivers at the race meeting in which a horse is entered.
(2) Every horse entered in a totalisator race shall be presented in the assembly area prior to the race in the same notifiable gear as that notified under sub-rule (1).
Removable deafeners are included in the schedule of Notifiable Gear (as published on the HNZ website) effective 17 October 2011.
In response to a question from the Committee Mr Van Kan said that prior to the start of the race he noticed that Opulent did have blinds and that he asked Mr Butt if he wanted to return to the stabling area to place the blinds on. He said that Mr Butt declined his offer.
Mr Butt elected not to appear at the hearing and on that basis the Committee was unable to assess the reason for the gear change.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
The charge is admitted and is therefore proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
On behalf of the informant Mr Van Kan submitted that a breach of this particular Rule would ordinarily be dealt with by way of the Minor Infringement System (MIS), but due to the fact that the Butt partnership had breached Rule 865(2) on two previous occasions in the past 12 months the matter was required to be referred to the Committee.
The first breach was on 17 May 2011 and the second was 16 December 2011. Mr Van Kan submitted that this breach ought to be dealt with by way of a $100 fine. In support of his submission Mr Van Kan advised the Committee that two recent decisions relating to a breach of this rule under similar circumstances had attracted a fine of $100.
No submissions as to penalty were lodged on behalf of the Respondents.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee gave careful consideration to the submissions of Mr Van Kan. We took the view that a $100 fine for the third breach of this rule within a 12 month period was inadequate.
Under the MIS a breach of this rule would normally attract a fine of $100; however we feel that this matter must be treated with a more substantial fine.
The Committee took into account the fact that this was a Group 1 Race which carried significant stake money ($120,000). We also noted that Opulent last raced on 9 March 2012 in notified gear and finished in 5th place (out of nine starters). We are unable to assess whether or not the gear change had an impact on Opulent’s improved form, but we feel that the betting public are entitled to have placed before them all available information, including gear changes.
The Committee also noted that on the two previous charges the Butt partnership was fined $200 (17/5/11) and $150 (16/12/11).
penalty:
A fine of $200 is imposed by the Committee.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 865(2)
Informant: B Van Kan - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: David and Catherine Butt - Licensed Trainers
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 13bbe23b03d9bc1d7d15ffb24407d5e5
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R6
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 652e06f888be146f0513f1d107501a2a
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 20/04/2012
meet_title: Auckland TC - 20 April 2012
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: auckland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GJones
meet_pm1: ADooley
meet_pm2: none
name: Auckland TC