Cambridge – Te Awamutu HRC 18 April 2013 – R 1
ID: JCA15474
Meet Title:
Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC - 18 April 2013
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
JHolloway
Race Date:
2013/04/18
Race Number:
R1
Decision:
As Mr S Butcher admitted the breach we find the charge proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly we impose a $250 fine on Mr S Butcher.
Charge:
Following race 1, Mitre 10 Mega Cambridge Amateur Drivers Mobile Pace, an information was filed pursuant to Rule 857(7) (a) and Rule 507A (1). The informant, Mr Muirhead, alleged that Mr S Butcher was late arriving on course and failed to report his arrival to take his drive on THRILL FACTOR, this delaying the start by 3minutes and 58 seconds.
Mr S Butcher acknowledged he understood the rules and the nature of the charge.
Rule 507A (1) states : Every horseman engaged to drive a horse in a race shall report to his or her attendance at the racecourse to the trainer or person left in charge of the horse at least 30 minutes before their first drive for the meeting.
Rule 857(7) (a) states: No horseman shall (a) delay the start.
Facts:
Mr Muirhead informed the Committee that Mr Paynter, Licensed Horseman, and member of the crash cart team had warmed up Thrill Factor. This was because nobody knew where Mr S Butcher was. He said Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones, went down to the stables inside the last 8 minutes to establish if a suitable Advanced Amateur Horseman was available to replace Mr Butcher. Mr Jones did not find a suitable replacement.
Mr Muirhead was considering whether to scratch Thrill Factor when the prior race in Australia was delayed by 2 minutes. At this point Mr Butcher arrived on track and took the drive on Thrill Factor. He said rather than withdrawing Thrill Factor from the race and affecting the connections he allowed the horse to start. The race was officially delayed by 3 minutes and 58 seconds.
Mr Muirhead believed Mr Butcher should have advised the club that he was going to be late to arrive on course. He said the circumstances could have been more serious if the Australian race was not delayed prior to the 1st race at Cambridge.
Mr Butcher told the Committee that he was out in the back blocks of Korakonui when he got a flat tyre on his truck. He said the puncture took him 1 hour to fix and his sole focus was getting to the races.
In response to a question from the Committee, Mr Butcher conceded that he should have contacted a license holder or Steward to inform them of his situation which was going to cause him an obvious delay. He admitted he made a bad error of judgement in not doing so.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead said Mr Butcher had a clear record under this rule. He submitted the breach was assessed at the medium to high range and was surprised that Mr Butcher did not contact anybody and notify them of his circumstances. He submitted if Thrill Factor had been scratched from the race a $500 fine would have been an appropriate penalty. He submitted the Committee should consider all of the evidence before imposing an appropriate penalty.
Mr Butcher submitted he had a clear record and had never been late previously. He submitted he would accept a fair penalty noting there were some mitigating factors for the Committee to consider.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented. The mitigating factors are Mr Butcher's admission of the breach and his clear record. However, the significant aggravating factor was Mr Butcher failed to notify any officials or fellow license holders of his delay when he clearly had ample opportunity to do so. We explained to Mr Butcher he was fortunate the Australian race was delayed otherwise he would be facing a more serious charge. We did take into account that Mr Butcher is an Amateur Horseman.
The JCA penalty guide under rule 857(7) (a) recommended a starting point of a $300 fine or 6 drives. We referred to the JCA listings of penalties which showed there had been no precedent.
After taking into account all the above factors we are of the view Rule 857 (7) (a) correctly addressed the circumstances of this information. Therefore we independently assess an appropriate penalty was a $250 fine.
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: 97f0d0556978f6ffcfdff03cc167fb44
informantnumber: A2494
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 21/04/2013
hearing_title: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC 18 April 2013 - R 1
charge:
Following race 1, Mitre 10 Mega Cambridge Amateur Drivers Mobile Pace, an information was filed pursuant to Rule 857(7) (a) and Rule 507A (1). The informant, Mr Muirhead, alleged that Mr S Butcher was late arriving on course and failed to report his arrival to take his drive on THRILL FACTOR, this delaying the start by 3minutes and 58 seconds.
Mr S Butcher acknowledged he understood the rules and the nature of the charge.
Rule 507A (1) states : Every horseman engaged to drive a horse in a race shall report to his or her attendance at the racecourse to the trainer or person left in charge of the horse at least 30 minutes before their first drive for the meeting.
Rule 857(7) (a) states: No horseman shall (a) delay the start.
facts:
Mr Muirhead informed the Committee that Mr Paynter, Licensed Horseman, and member of the crash cart team had warmed up Thrill Factor. This was because nobody knew where Mr S Butcher was. He said Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones, went down to the stables inside the last 8 minutes to establish if a suitable Advanced Amateur Horseman was available to replace Mr Butcher. Mr Jones did not find a suitable replacement.
Mr Muirhead was considering whether to scratch Thrill Factor when the prior race in Australia was delayed by 2 minutes. At this point Mr Butcher arrived on track and took the drive on Thrill Factor. He said rather than withdrawing Thrill Factor from the race and affecting the connections he allowed the horse to start. The race was officially delayed by 3 minutes and 58 seconds.
Mr Muirhead believed Mr Butcher should have advised the club that he was going to be late to arrive on course. He said the circumstances could have been more serious if the Australian race was not delayed prior to the 1st race at Cambridge.
Mr Butcher told the Committee that he was out in the back blocks of Korakonui when he got a flat tyre on his truck. He said the puncture took him 1 hour to fix and his sole focus was getting to the races.
In response to a question from the Committee, Mr Butcher conceded that he should have contacted a license holder or Steward to inform them of his situation which was going to cause him an obvious delay. He admitted he made a bad error of judgement in not doing so.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr S Butcher admitted the breach we find the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead said Mr Butcher had a clear record under this rule. He submitted the breach was assessed at the medium to high range and was surprised that Mr Butcher did not contact anybody and notify them of his circumstances. He submitted if Thrill Factor had been scratched from the race a $500 fine would have been an appropriate penalty. He submitted the Committee should consider all of the evidence before imposing an appropriate penalty.
Mr Butcher submitted he had a clear record and had never been late previously. He submitted he would accept a fair penalty noting there were some mitigating factors for the Committee to consider.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented. The mitigating factors are Mr Butcher's admission of the breach and his clear record. However, the significant aggravating factor was Mr Butcher failed to notify any officials or fellow license holders of his delay when he clearly had ample opportunity to do so. We explained to Mr Butcher he was fortunate the Australian race was delayed otherwise he would be facing a more serious charge. We did take into account that Mr Butcher is an Amateur Horseman.
The JCA penalty guide under rule 857(7) (a) recommended a starting point of a $300 fine or 6 drives. We referred to the JCA listings of penalties which showed there had been no precedent.
After taking into account all the above factors we are of the view Rule 857 (7) (a) correctly addressed the circumstances of this information. Therefore we independently assess an appropriate penalty was a $250 fine.
penalty:
Accordingly we impose a $250 fine on Mr S Butcher.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 507A(1) and 857(7)(a)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Butcher - Advanced Amateur Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: e990ce445f6206ea13021aa49359f36c
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: b07960f2dd90b0d3cc8e56f6eb459c81
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 18/04/2013
meet_title: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC - 18 April 2013
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: cambridge-te-awamutu-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: ADooley
meet_pm1: JHolloway
meet_pm2: none
name: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC