Auckland TC 24 February 2017 – R 1 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA14850
Meet Title:
Auckland TC - 24 February 2017
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 2:
ASmith
Race Date:
2017/02/24
Race Number:
R1
Decision:
As the breach was admitted the Committee found the charge to be proved.
Penalty:
We therefore impose a fine of $300 on Mr Edwards.
In doing so we advised Mr Edwards that under the present Guidelines a second breach of this Rule within 6 months would result in a suspension of between 3-5 days.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 1, the CANAM CONSTRUCTION TROT 2200m, an Information was presented by Mr Mulcay alleging that Mr B Edwards, driving DAUNTLESS had used his whip excessively over the final stages.
Mr Edwards was present at the hearing and acknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the breach.
Rule 869(2)(a) provides 'No horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner'
Using the available video films, Mr Mulcay pointed out that DAUNTLESS was in the 1 x 1 position with approximately 400m to the finish. As the horse reached the 200m mark, Mr Edwards crossed his reins and began striking the horse with his whip. From that point until the finish Mr Edwards struck the horse 13 times. It was apparent from the films that the strikes were not particuarly hard, however Mr Mulcay added that the Guidelines introduced in December 2016 stipulated that a driver should not use his whip more than 10 times within the final 400m of a race.
Mr Edwards said that he agreed that he struck the horse 13 times, however he believed that the final 3 or 4 strikes did not amount to any more than 'flicks'.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay referred to the JCA Penalty Guide which provides either a fine of $500 or a 2 day suspension for a first beach of this Rule. Mr Mulcay added that Mr Edwards had no prior breaches of this Rule and it was to his credit that he had admitted the breach on this occasion. Mr Mulcay added that the Stewards submitted that a fine of $300 would be an appropriate penalty inline with other penalties imposed by Committees recently.
Mr Edwards had nothing to say in regards to a likely penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee took account of the submissions of the parties, and viewed the video films of the incident. It was clear that Mr Edwards had struck the horse 13 times. We confirm that the JCA Penalty Guide provides a fine of $500 or a 2 day suspension for the first breach of this Rule, and that Mr Edwards has not previously breached this Rule. Committees are required to be consistent when imposing penalties for breaches of the Rules, and we confirmed that fines of $300 have been imposed on other drivers in similar circumstances recently.
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: 83e18198b0fbb4770e62b83f527ca8c4
informantnumber: A7984
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive used of the whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 24/02/2017
hearing_title: Auckland TC 24 February 2017 - R 1 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 1, the CANAM CONSTRUCTION TROT 2200m, an Information was presented by Mr Mulcay alleging that Mr B Edwards, driving DAUNTLESS had used his whip excessively over the final stages.
Mr Edwards was present at the hearing and acknowledged that he understood the Rule and that he admitted the breach.
Rule 869(2)(a) provides 'No horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner'
Using the available video films, Mr Mulcay pointed out that DAUNTLESS was in the 1 x 1 position with approximately 400m to the finish. As the horse reached the 200m mark, Mr Edwards crossed his reins and began striking the horse with his whip. From that point until the finish Mr Edwards struck the horse 13 times. It was apparent from the films that the strikes were not particuarly hard, however Mr Mulcay added that the Guidelines introduced in December 2016 stipulated that a driver should not use his whip more than 10 times within the final 400m of a race.
Mr Edwards said that he agreed that he struck the horse 13 times, however he believed that the final 3 or 4 strikes did not amount to any more than 'flicks'.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As the breach was admitted the Committee found the charge to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay referred to the JCA Penalty Guide which provides either a fine of $500 or a 2 day suspension for a first beach of this Rule. Mr Mulcay added that Mr Edwards had no prior breaches of this Rule and it was to his credit that he had admitted the breach on this occasion. Mr Mulcay added that the Stewards submitted that a fine of $300 would be an appropriate penalty inline with other penalties imposed by Committees recently.
Mr Edwards had nothing to say in regards to a likely penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee took account of the submissions of the parties, and viewed the video films of the incident. It was clear that Mr Edwards had struck the horse 13 times. We confirm that the JCA Penalty Guide provides a fine of $500 or a 2 day suspension for the first breach of this Rule, and that Mr Edwards has not previously breached this Rule. Committees are required to be consistent when imposing penalties for breaches of the Rules, and we confirmed that fines of $300 have been imposed on other drivers in similar circumstances recently.
penalty:
We therefore impose a fine of $300 on Mr Edwards.
In doing so we advised Mr Edwards that under the present Guidelines a second breach of this Rule within 6 months would result in a suspension of between 3-5 days.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(2)(a)
Informant: Mr s S Mulcay - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr B Edwards - Driver of DAUNTLESS
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: a9d2c9ca9a2c7cebc67272bbfbaea82c
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R1
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 5e417c6f5b355b237882c4bfcb811dcf
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 24/02/2017
meet_title: Auckland TC - 24 February 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: auckland-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: ADooley
meet_pm2: ASmith
name: Auckland TC