Cambridge-Te Awamutu HRC 22 March 2012 – R 11
ID: JCA12082
Meet Title:
Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC - 22 March 2012
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
JHolloway
Race Date:
2012/03/22
Race Number:
R11
Decision:
The Committee finds that: although Mr Butcher was entitled to improve his horses position it had to be done safely. The movement was unsafe and Mr McCaffrey was unable to take evasive action with his horse forced off balance after it’s legs contacted Mr Butcher’s sulky.
The Committee consider the driving of Mr Butcher in this incident to be careless and the charge is therefore proved.
Penalty:
The Committee imposes a fine of $350.
Charge:
The information alleged that horseman, Mr D Butcher drove 'STUNIN BANNER' carelessly when he caused interference to 'BETTOR BLAZE' driven by Mr S McCaffrey with approximately 60 metres to run.
Facts:
At the commencement of the hearing Mr Butcher sought an adjournment as he didn’t think he was going to be fairly heard as a result of the finding against him in the previous protest hearing. He also had family and horse welfare concerns which would be adversely affected by the time involved to hear the matter.
The Stipendiary Stewards strenuously objected to the application on the grounds that licence holders had various obligations in regards to their appearance for enquiries and management of their affairs on race night. Mr Butcher regularly sought adjournments when charged and they considered this to be a ploy to delay raceday hearings.
The committee informed the hearing that they were confident of dealing with this hearing in a professional and unbiased manner and that the hearing would continue immediately.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Taumanu demonstrated the alleged incident by way of the available video footage. He stated that the horse 'BETTOR BLAZE', driven by Mr S McCaffrey had been struck and pushed off balance losing a shin boot as 'STUNIN BANNER', driven by Mr Butcher, had improved from its midfield position.
He said that Mr Butcher should have been able to improve the position of his horse without causing interference to another runner. He acknowledged that 'STUNIN BANNER' was entitled to move outwards to improve its position but not in an abrupt manner as it had done, resulting in his sulky wheel striking 'BETTOR BLAZE' and becoming positioned for a few strides under that horses flank and inside the line of its sulky wheel.
Mr McCaffrey was unavailable but the evidence he gave at the earlier protest hearing was admitted with the consent of Mr Butcher.
Mr Muirhead added that an outward manoeuvre of this nature should be made with safety and without causing interference to any other runner.
Mr Butcher said that he did not agree that his actions were unsafe or careless, and that since there were no horses outside 'BETTOR BLAZE' it did not affect any other runner. He said that he believed that he had the advantage over 'BETTOR BLAZE' and that he could improve the position of his horse inside 'BETTOR BLAZE' without incident. He felt that 'BETTOR BLAZE' was not able to improve its position and was battling and that his efforts to improve his horse did not unduly affect 'BETTOR BLAZE'.
Under cross-examination Mr Butcher agreed that his silky wheel had been under 'BETTOR BLAZE's flank and that 'BETTOR BLAZE' was entitled to be where it was.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee's assessment of the incident was that ‘STUNIN BANNER’ driven by Mr Butcher did move abruptly from its position in midfield to be in a challenging position at about the 50 metre mark.
In doing so its sulky wheel struck ‘BETTOR BLAZE’ unbalancing it causing it to lose a shin boot. ‘STUNIN BANNER’ subsequently ended up under that horse’s flank and inside the line of its sulky wheel. While ‘BETTOR BLAZE’ may not have been improving its position, it was entitled to hold its line.
This manoeuvre was careless.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Taumanu submitted that the starting point for a charge of this nature where there had been a resultant relegation is a fine of $500 or a suspension for the equivalent of 10 drives. He submitted that he believed the level of carelessness was in the mid to upper level range. He submitted that Mr Butcher had 3 prior breaches of this rule in the current season
Mr Butcher said he believed the matter was at the bottom end of the range. In the last three charges of careless driving he did not believe that he had been at fault. Mr McCaffrey had said that it made no difference to him.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee accepts that Mr Butcher is a very experienced driver with a good record. He has driven in approximately 600 races so far this season. While the level of carelessness in this incident was not high the impact was relatively serious and we consider it to fall into the middle on the seriousness level.
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: 2f0dd31ffdfd5eaa74a20abb44c4c59d
informantnumber: 2454
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 22/03/2012
hearing_title: Cambridge-Te Awamutu HRC 22 March 2012 - R 11
charge:
The information alleged that horseman, Mr D Butcher drove 'STUNIN BANNER' carelessly when he caused interference to 'BETTOR BLAZE' driven by Mr S McCaffrey with approximately 60 metres to run.
facts:
At the commencement of the hearing Mr Butcher sought an adjournment as he didn’t think he was going to be fairly heard as a result of the finding against him in the previous protest hearing. He also had family and horse welfare concerns which would be adversely affected by the time involved to hear the matter.
The Stipendiary Stewards strenuously objected to the application on the grounds that licence holders had various obligations in regards to their appearance for enquiries and management of their affairs on race night. Mr Butcher regularly sought adjournments when charged and they considered this to be a ploy to delay raceday hearings.
The committee informed the hearing that they were confident of dealing with this hearing in a professional and unbiased manner and that the hearing would continue immediately.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Taumanu demonstrated the alleged incident by way of the available video footage. He stated that the horse 'BETTOR BLAZE', driven by Mr S McCaffrey had been struck and pushed off balance losing a shin boot as 'STUNIN BANNER', driven by Mr Butcher, had improved from its midfield position.
He said that Mr Butcher should have been able to improve the position of his horse without causing interference to another runner. He acknowledged that 'STUNIN BANNER' was entitled to move outwards to improve its position but not in an abrupt manner as it had done, resulting in his sulky wheel striking 'BETTOR BLAZE' and becoming positioned for a few strides under that horses flank and inside the line of its sulky wheel.
Mr McCaffrey was unavailable but the evidence he gave at the earlier protest hearing was admitted with the consent of Mr Butcher.
Mr Muirhead added that an outward manoeuvre of this nature should be made with safety and without causing interference to any other runner.
Mr Butcher said that he did not agree that his actions were unsafe or careless, and that since there were no horses outside 'BETTOR BLAZE' it did not affect any other runner. He said that he believed that he had the advantage over 'BETTOR BLAZE' and that he could improve the position of his horse inside 'BETTOR BLAZE' without incident. He felt that 'BETTOR BLAZE' was not able to improve its position and was battling and that his efforts to improve his horse did not unduly affect 'BETTOR BLAZE'.
Under cross-examination Mr Butcher agreed that his silky wheel had been under 'BETTOR BLAZE's flank and that 'BETTOR BLAZE' was entitled to be where it was.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee's assessment of the incident was that ‘STUNIN BANNER’ driven by Mr Butcher did move abruptly from its position in midfield to be in a challenging position at about the 50 metre mark.
In doing so its sulky wheel struck ‘BETTOR BLAZE’ unbalancing it causing it to lose a shin boot. ‘STUNIN BANNER’ subsequently ended up under that horse’s flank and inside the line of its sulky wheel. While ‘BETTOR BLAZE’ may not have been improving its position, it was entitled to hold its line.
This manoeuvre was careless.
Decision:
The Committee finds that: although Mr Butcher was entitled to improve his horses position it had to be done safely. The movement was unsafe and Mr McCaffrey was unable to take evasive action with his horse forced off balance after it’s legs contacted Mr Butcher’s sulky.
The Committee consider the driving of Mr Butcher in this incident to be careless and the charge is therefore proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Taumanu submitted that the starting point for a charge of this nature where there had been a resultant relegation is a fine of $500 or a suspension for the equivalent of 10 drives. He submitted that he believed the level of carelessness was in the mid to upper level range. He submitted that Mr Butcher had 3 prior breaches of this rule in the current season
Mr Butcher said he believed the matter was at the bottom end of the range. In the last three charges of careless driving he did not believe that he had been at fault. Mr McCaffrey had said that it made no difference to him.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee accepts that Mr Butcher is a very experienced driver with a good record. He has driven in approximately 600 races so far this season. While the level of carelessness in this incident was not high the impact was relatively serious and we consider it to fall into the middle on the seriousness level.
penalty:
The Committee imposes a fine of $350.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr T Taumanu - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr D Butcher - Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 8148c39a350167522271f12be1ba60fd
race_expapproval:
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race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R11
submittochair:
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meetid: d5359d96c01249bb977230f52de6993c
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waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
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meetdate: 22/03/2012
meet_title: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC - 22 March 2012
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meet_otherexp:
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meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: JHolloway
meet_pm2: none
name: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC