Archive Decision

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Banks Peninsula TC 19 February 2016 – R 2 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie

ID: JCA15001

Applicant:
S P Renault, Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Licensed Open Driver, C D Thornley

Other Person:
Mr R A Quirk - Stipendiary Steward

Information Number:
A1499

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Careless Driving

Rules:
869(3)(b)

Plea:
admitted

Meet Title:
Banks Peninsula TC - 19 February 2016

Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie

Meet Committee Member 1:
GClapp

Race Date:
2016/02/19

Race Number:
R2

Decision:

Mr Thornley having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.

Penalty:

Mr Thornley was fined the sum of $250.00.

Facts:

Following the running of Race 2, Rose Dakin Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr C D Thornley, alleging that Mr Thornley, as the driver of JUST BEN in the race, “drove carelessly when allowing his horse to strike the sulky wheel of ROYAL CAROLINE (C J DeFilippi) near the 500 metres causing a tyre to puncture”.

Mr Thornley was present at the hearing of the information, and he indicated that he admitted the breach.

Rule 869 provides as follows:

(3) No horseman in any race shall drive:-

     (b) carelessly.

Mr R A Quirk, Stipendiary Steward, showed video replays of the incident with approximately 500 metres to run. Mr Thornley was racing three places back on the markers in the seven-horse field behind ROYAL CAROLINE, driven by Mr DeFilippi which was trailing the leader. CORINGA DELIGHT (W E Higgs) was racing on the outside of ROYAL CAROLINE in the one-one position. Mr Renault said that it appeared that Mr Higgs was about to attempt to improve 3-wide but he elected not to come out.

At that stage, Mr Thornley had anticipated a run into the space about to be vacated by Mr Higgs. This placed Mr Thornley on the wheel of Mr DeFilippi. Mr Thornley’s horse then appeared to overrace and its off-front leg struck the right-hand sulky wheel of Mr DeFilippi’s horse, causing the sulky tyre to puncture and deflate.

Mr Thornley said that Mr Higgs had come out but had not progressed. He, Mr Thornley, had angled his horse out. He pointed out on the video that his horse’s mouth was open at that point. He took hold when he realised that Mr Higgs had not gone all of the way out. He admitted that he had struck the wheel of Mr DeFilippi’s runner. He had not driven his horse into the gap, he said. He had merely “angled out” and the horse had overreacted and “charged forward”.

Mr Renault agreed that Mr Thornley’s horse had contributed to the incident. Mr Thornley had anticipated Mr Higgs going forward 3-wide and had gone to take up his position. When Mr Higgs came back down, Mr Thornley had attempted to restrain his runner, Mr Renault said.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Renault told the Committee that Mr Thornley had an “excellent record”. He had a clear record under the Rule in the past 12 months. He has had 263 drives in the current season and 510 in the 2014/2015 season, so it was an excellent record. Furthermore, Mr Thornley had admitted the breach and his horse’s manners had not helped, Mr Renault said. Mr Thornley had anticipated a run, but a lot of horses would have “come back to him”. The horse has always had “steering issues”, Mr Renault said. He submitted that an appropriate penalty was a fine in the vicinity of $250-300, taking all of those factors into account.

Mr Thornley did not wish to add anything further in relation to penalty.

Reasons for Penalty:

In arriving at penalty, the Committee took the starting point of a $500 fine as per the Penalty Guide. Mitigating factors were, firstly, Mr Thornley’s admission of the breach, secondly, his record which the Committee agreed was excellent and, thirdly, that Mr Thornley’s horse had, clearly, contributed to the incident through its manners. There were no real aggravating factors.

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: 979155a81612a2a24b4a1949d541421d


informantnumber: A1499


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Careless Driving


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 25/02/2016


hearing_title: Banks Peninsula TC 19 February 2016 - R 2 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie


charge:


facts:

Following the running of Race 2, Rose Dakin Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr C D Thornley, alleging that Mr Thornley, as the driver of JUST BEN in the race, “drove carelessly when allowing his horse to strike the sulky wheel of ROYAL CAROLINE (C J DeFilippi) near the 500 metres causing a tyre to puncture”.

Mr Thornley was present at the hearing of the information, and he indicated that he admitted the breach.

Rule 869 provides as follows:

(3) No horseman in any race shall drive:-

     (b) carelessly.

Mr R A Quirk, Stipendiary Steward, showed video replays of the incident with approximately 500 metres to run. Mr Thornley was racing three places back on the markers in the seven-horse field behind ROYAL CAROLINE, driven by Mr DeFilippi which was trailing the leader. CORINGA DELIGHT (W E Higgs) was racing on the outside of ROYAL CAROLINE in the one-one position. Mr Renault said that it appeared that Mr Higgs was about to attempt to improve 3-wide but he elected not to come out.

At that stage, Mr Thornley had anticipated a run into the space about to be vacated by Mr Higgs. This placed Mr Thornley on the wheel of Mr DeFilippi. Mr Thornley’s horse then appeared to overrace and its off-front leg struck the right-hand sulky wheel of Mr DeFilippi’s horse, causing the sulky tyre to puncture and deflate.

Mr Thornley said that Mr Higgs had come out but had not progressed. He, Mr Thornley, had angled his horse out. He pointed out on the video that his horse’s mouth was open at that point. He took hold when he realised that Mr Higgs had not gone all of the way out. He admitted that he had struck the wheel of Mr DeFilippi’s runner. He had not driven his horse into the gap, he said. He had merely “angled out” and the horse had overreacted and “charged forward”.

Mr Renault agreed that Mr Thornley’s horse had contributed to the incident. Mr Thornley had anticipated Mr Higgs going forward 3-wide and had gone to take up his position. When Mr Higgs came back down, Mr Thornley had attempted to restrain his runner, Mr Renault said.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

Mr Thornley having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Renault told the Committee that Mr Thornley had an “excellent record”. He had a clear record under the Rule in the past 12 months. He has had 263 drives in the current season and 510 in the 2014/2015 season, so it was an excellent record. Furthermore, Mr Thornley had admitted the breach and his horse’s manners had not helped, Mr Renault said. Mr Thornley had anticipated a run, but a lot of horses would have “come back to him”. The horse has always had “steering issues”, Mr Renault said. He submitted that an appropriate penalty was a fine in the vicinity of $250-300, taking all of those factors into account.

Mr Thornley did not wish to add anything further in relation to penalty.


reasonsforpenalty:

In arriving at penalty, the Committee took the starting point of a $500 fine as per the Penalty Guide. Mitigating factors were, firstly, Mr Thornley’s admission of the breach, secondly, his record which the Committee agreed was excellent and, thirdly, that Mr Thornley’s horse had, clearly, contributed to the incident through its manners. There were no real aggravating factors.


penalty:

Mr Thornley was fined the sum of $250.00.


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: 869(3)(b)


Informant: S P Renault, Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: Licensed Open Driver, C D Thornley


Otherperson: Mr R A Quirk - Stipendiary Steward


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: 3d418ce1f6f7615dc69db037630032bc


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: d999f79b9ae32ad746937810c0ba680d


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 19/02/2016


meet_title: Banks Peninsula TC - 19 February 2016


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: banks-peninsula-tc


meet_racingtype: harness-racing


meet_chair: RMcKenzie


meet_pm1: GClapp


meet_pm2: none


name: Banks Peninsula TC