Cambridge-Te Awamutu HRC 29 December 2010 – Request for a Ruling
ID: JCA14841
Meet Title:
Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC - 29 December 2010
Meet Chair:
BScott
Meet Committee Member 1:
JHolloway
Race Date:
2010/12/29
Race Number:
N/A
Decision:
On the basis therefore that the adjourned Hearing is to be heard on a Race Day the Committee orders that Miss Chilcott is not entitled to be represented at the Hearing.
Facts:
Request for a ruling as to whether Miss Chilcott is entitled to legal representation at an adjourned race day enquiry.
Rule 1112 allows those persons referred to in sub-paragraph 1 to apply to the Judicial Committee for a ruling.
Miss Chilcott has accordingly applied and in her application she referred to Rule 1118(1). It was agreed at the commencement of the Hearing however that the appropriate Rule was 1118(2) which provides:
“At any Hearing held by a Judicial Committee which is heard other than in the course of a race day the Informant and the Defendant may represent himself, or be represented by Counsel or a lay advocate approved by the Judicial Control Authority.:
Miss Chilcott was charged with careless driving at the Cambridge Harness Racing Club’s Meeting on Friday the 24th of December 2010 and this was as a result of an incident in the last race on that day. As a result of Hearings being held after the last race that day Miss Chilcott’s case was not going to be able to be heard for some time. Miss Chilcott requested that the hearing of the charge be adjourned to be heard at the Cambridge Harness Racing Club’s Meeting on the 30th of December 2010. She requested the adjournment because she had to attend to her horses that had been racing during the Meeting and that the inevitable delay in reaching her Hearing would mean that her horses would be waiting on the float for some time and it would be more convenient to her if she could take her horses home straight away and accordingly in order to do that she needed to have her Hearing adjourned.
Although the adjournment was purely for Miss Chilcott’s convenience the application on the day was not opposed by the Stipendary Stewards and the JCA Committee granted the adjournment.
The charge was therefore adjourned to be heard one hour prior to the first race on the 30th of December 2010. Prior to granting the adjournment the JCA Committee established that all parties would be available at Cambridge on that date.
Miss Chilcott in the interim sought advice from Mr Branch and asked Mr Branch to represent her at the adjourned Hearing.
Miss Chilcott tells us that she telephoned Mr Muirhead and asked him if he would agree to Mr Branch representing her at the adjourned Hearing. Miss Chilcott said that she understood from their conversation that Mr Muirhead would agree.
Mr Muirhead tells us that although Miss Chilcott did telephone him, he did not actually agree to Miss Chilcott being represented at an adjourned Hearing and he has told us today that he informed Miss Chilcott that a Judicial Committee must make that decision and that Miss Chilcott should apply for a Ruling.
It should be noted that the Committee allowed Mr Branch to be an Observer at today’s Hearing. This is a Hearing on a race day and as such pursuant to Rule 1118(1) Mr Branch could not represent Miss Chilcott and he readily acknowledges this.
Pursuant to Rule 1112(1)(c) a $100.00 filing fee is payable unless that is waived by the Committee. In this instance the content of the application is important and the Committee has accordingly waived the payment of the filing fee.
Submissions for Decision:
Miss Chilcott at today’s Hearing said that she relied on the Rule and that she believed that the Rule allowed her to be represented by Counsel. Miss Chilcott indicated to this Committee that in her opinion the adjourned Hearing was not being held on a race day and accordingly she should be entitled to representation.
Mr Muirhead for his part said that he does not have a problem if that is what is provided in the Rules but that if representation at adjourned Hearings was allowed then it may create a problem further down the line and for this reason he would oppose the application. Mr Muirhead also pointed out that the adjournment was purely for Miss Chilcott’s convenience and was not because of the seriousness of the charge.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee has listened to the submissions of the parties today and has also perused the appropriate Rules.
The Committee is aware of the facts giving rise to this application because today’s Committee is the same Committee that dealt with the adjournment although in that instance Mr Holloway was Chairman. The charge against Miss Chilcott was adjourned to be heard one hour prior to the first race on the 30th of December 2010 and this is confirmed by today’s Committee.
The charge is not one of a serious nature and clearly could be heard within the period of one hour prior to the first race and if necessary could have been heard between races on the 30th of December 2010.
The normal procedure for an adjourned Hearing is for that Hearing to be heard at a date to be set by the Executive Officer of the JCA and this would normally apply to charges of a serious nature. This is not the case here. Adjournments are granted by various Judicial Committees to be heard one hour before the first race at an appropriate Meeting and generally this is for the convenience for the parties concerned and not because of the nature of the charge. Miss Chilcott has been given the benefit of an adjournment and as far as the Judicial Committee of the day was concerned it was never intended that this would be anything other than a Race Day Hearing.
It has been suggested to us today that because it is being heard prior to the first race at the Meeting that it is essentially a Non Race Day Hearing but this cannot be so. A Non Race Day Hearing would normally require the Informant to have the written authority from the General Manager of Harness Racing New Zealand and quite clearly none of the parties to this Hearing assumed that that would be the case.
The Rule refers to any Hearing held by a Judicial Committee which is heard other than in the course of a race day. The question therefore is “will this adjourned Hearing be held during the course of a race day”.
A race day is not specifically defined in the Rules but the Rules do however provide some help in this regard. In practical terms a race day must commence some time prior to the actual start of the first race. Horses are paraded before the first race, gear is checked, drivers are to be available and on course betting has commenced. It is clear that on this basis a race day starts well before the starting time of the first race.
The appropriate Rules are as follows:
Rule 707(1) provides:
“Until one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the first race of any day of a Race Meeting the Stipendary Steward shall have the control of that Meeting and be charged at all times with the duty of ensuring that the provisions of these Rules are applied and in force in respect of each day of that Meeting.”
Rule 707 (3) provides:
“From one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the first race of any day of a Race Meeting until after the conclusion of the last proceeding which it commences to deal with on that day, or thirty minutes after the last race run on that day (whichever is the later), the Judicial Committee appointed for that day shall:
(a) hear all matters of a judicial nature which arise during and in relation to that day of racing and are submitted to it;
(b) determine any question as to whether that day of racing or any part thereof should be postponed, abandoned or cancelled;
(c) exercise the powers, duties and functions conferred or imposed on Judicial Committees by these Rules.
Further help is given in Rule 1102(2) which provides:
“The functions of a Judicial Committee shall be:
(a) from one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the first race of any day of a Race Meeting until after the conclusion of the last proceeding which it commences to deal with on that day, or thirty minutes after the last race run on that day (whichever is the later) to:
(i) hear all matters of a judicial nature which arise during and in relation to that day of racing and are submitted to it;
(ii) determine any question as to whether that day of racing or any part thereof should be postponed, abandoned or cancelled;
(iii) declare a race null and void and if it thinks expedient order that such race be run again;
(iv) exercise the powers duties and functions conferred or imposed on Judicial Committees by these Rules.
(b) to consider and determine the following matters in connection with racing;
(i) all informations and proceedings in relation hereto;
(ii) any matter in connection with the driving or running of a horse which has become the subject of a proceeding;
(iii) all questions of application or interpretation of these Rules which arise in the course of the Hearing and determination of a proceeding.
This Committee takes the view that in terms of the Rules of Harness Racing that a Race Day commences at the very least one hour before the start of the first race which is in line with the commencement of the Judicial Committee’s authority for that Meeting.
The Rule before us today refers to a Hearing “which is heard other than in the course of a Race Day”. This Committee takes the view that an adjourned Hearing which is to be held within one hour before the first race at any Meeting is being heard on a Race Day and as such representation is not allowed.
The Committee also believes that it was never the intention at the time of the making of Rule 1118 that there should be any representation at an adjourned Hearing of this nature and this is confirmed by the fact that Hearings “other than in the course of a Race Day” are a separate category.
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: 827be3bf3fbf84afef3c2e0114051aef
informantnumber:
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 31/12/2010
hearing_title: Cambridge-Te Awamutu HRC 29 December 2010 - Request for a Ruling
charge:
facts:
Request for a ruling as to whether Miss Chilcott is entitled to legal representation at an adjourned race day enquiry.
Rule 1112 allows those persons referred to in sub-paragraph 1 to apply to the Judicial Committee for a ruling.
Miss Chilcott has accordingly applied and in her application she referred to Rule 1118(1). It was agreed at the commencement of the Hearing however that the appropriate Rule was 1118(2) which provides:
“At any Hearing held by a Judicial Committee which is heard other than in the course of a race day the Informant and the Defendant may represent himself, or be represented by Counsel or a lay advocate approved by the Judicial Control Authority.:
Miss Chilcott was charged with careless driving at the Cambridge Harness Racing Club’s Meeting on Friday the 24th of December 2010 and this was as a result of an incident in the last race on that day. As a result of Hearings being held after the last race that day Miss Chilcott’s case was not going to be able to be heard for some time. Miss Chilcott requested that the hearing of the charge be adjourned to be heard at the Cambridge Harness Racing Club’s Meeting on the 30th of December 2010. She requested the adjournment because she had to attend to her horses that had been racing during the Meeting and that the inevitable delay in reaching her Hearing would mean that her horses would be waiting on the float for some time and it would be more convenient to her if she could take her horses home straight away and accordingly in order to do that she needed to have her Hearing adjourned.
Although the adjournment was purely for Miss Chilcott’s convenience the application on the day was not opposed by the Stipendary Stewards and the JCA Committee granted the adjournment.
The charge was therefore adjourned to be heard one hour prior to the first race on the 30th of December 2010. Prior to granting the adjournment the JCA Committee established that all parties would be available at Cambridge on that date.
Miss Chilcott in the interim sought advice from Mr Branch and asked Mr Branch to represent her at the adjourned Hearing.
Miss Chilcott tells us that she telephoned Mr Muirhead and asked him if he would agree to Mr Branch representing her at the adjourned Hearing. Miss Chilcott said that she understood from their conversation that Mr Muirhead would agree.
Mr Muirhead tells us that although Miss Chilcott did telephone him, he did not actually agree to Miss Chilcott being represented at an adjourned Hearing and he has told us today that he informed Miss Chilcott that a Judicial Committee must make that decision and that Miss Chilcott should apply for a Ruling.
It should be noted that the Committee allowed Mr Branch to be an Observer at today’s Hearing. This is a Hearing on a race day and as such pursuant to Rule 1118(1) Mr Branch could not represent Miss Chilcott and he readily acknowledges this.
Pursuant to Rule 1112(1)(c) a $100.00 filing fee is payable unless that is waived by the Committee. In this instance the content of the application is important and the Committee has accordingly waived the payment of the filing fee.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Miss Chilcott at today’s Hearing said that she relied on the Rule and that she believed that the Rule allowed her to be represented by Counsel. Miss Chilcott indicated to this Committee that in her opinion the adjourned Hearing was not being held on a race day and accordingly she should be entitled to representation.
Mr Muirhead for his part said that he does not have a problem if that is what is provided in the Rules but that if representation at adjourned Hearings was allowed then it may create a problem further down the line and for this reason he would oppose the application. Mr Muirhead also pointed out that the adjournment was purely for Miss Chilcott’s convenience and was not because of the seriousness of the charge.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee has listened to the submissions of the parties today and has also perused the appropriate Rules.
The Committee is aware of the facts giving rise to this application because today’s Committee is the same Committee that dealt with the adjournment although in that instance Mr Holloway was Chairman. The charge against Miss Chilcott was adjourned to be heard one hour prior to the first race on the 30th of December 2010 and this is confirmed by today’s Committee.
The charge is not one of a serious nature and clearly could be heard within the period of one hour prior to the first race and if necessary could have been heard between races on the 30th of December 2010.
The normal procedure for an adjourned Hearing is for that Hearing to be heard at a date to be set by the Executive Officer of the JCA and this would normally apply to charges of a serious nature. This is not the case here. Adjournments are granted by various Judicial Committees to be heard one hour before the first race at an appropriate Meeting and generally this is for the convenience for the parties concerned and not because of the nature of the charge. Miss Chilcott has been given the benefit of an adjournment and as far as the Judicial Committee of the day was concerned it was never intended that this would be anything other than a Race Day Hearing.
It has been suggested to us today that because it is being heard prior to the first race at the Meeting that it is essentially a Non Race Day Hearing but this cannot be so. A Non Race Day Hearing would normally require the Informant to have the written authority from the General Manager of Harness Racing New Zealand and quite clearly none of the parties to this Hearing assumed that that would be the case.
The Rule refers to any Hearing held by a Judicial Committee which is heard other than in the course of a race day. The question therefore is “will this adjourned Hearing be held during the course of a race day”.
A race day is not specifically defined in the Rules but the Rules do however provide some help in this regard. In practical terms a race day must commence some time prior to the actual start of the first race. Horses are paraded before the first race, gear is checked, drivers are to be available and on course betting has commenced. It is clear that on this basis a race day starts well before the starting time of the first race.
The appropriate Rules are as follows:
Rule 707(1) provides:
“Until one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the first race of any day of a Race Meeting the Stipendary Steward shall have the control of that Meeting and be charged at all times with the duty of ensuring that the provisions of these Rules are applied and in force in respect of each day of that Meeting.”
Rule 707 (3) provides:
“From one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the first race of any day of a Race Meeting until after the conclusion of the last proceeding which it commences to deal with on that day, or thirty minutes after the last race run on that day (whichever is the later), the Judicial Committee appointed for that day shall:
(a) hear all matters of a judicial nature which arise during and in relation to that day of racing and are submitted to it;
(b) determine any question as to whether that day of racing or any part thereof should be postponed, abandoned or cancelled;
(c) exercise the powers, duties and functions conferred or imposed on Judicial Committees by these Rules.
Further help is given in Rule 1102(2) which provides:
“The functions of a Judicial Committee shall be:
(a) from one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the first race of any day of a Race Meeting until after the conclusion of the last proceeding which it commences to deal with on that day, or thirty minutes after the last race run on that day (whichever is the later) to:
(i) hear all matters of a judicial nature which arise during and in relation to that day of racing and are submitted to it;
(ii) determine any question as to whether that day of racing or any part thereof should be postponed, abandoned or cancelled;
(iii) declare a race null and void and if it thinks expedient order that such race be run again;
(iv) exercise the powers duties and functions conferred or imposed on Judicial Committees by these Rules.
(b) to consider and determine the following matters in connection with racing;
(i) all informations and proceedings in relation hereto;
(ii) any matter in connection with the driving or running of a horse which has become the subject of a proceeding;
(iii) all questions of application or interpretation of these Rules which arise in the course of the Hearing and determination of a proceeding.
This Committee takes the view that in terms of the Rules of Harness Racing that a Race Day commences at the very least one hour before the start of the first race which is in line with the commencement of the Judicial Committee’s authority for that Meeting.
The Rule before us today refers to a Hearing “which is heard other than in the course of a Race Day”. This Committee takes the view that an adjourned Hearing which is to be held within one hour before the first race at any Meeting is being heard on a Race Day and as such representation is not allowed.
The Committee also believes that it was never the intention at the time of the making of Rule 1118 that there should be any representation at an adjourned Hearing of this nature and this is confirmed by the fact that Hearings “other than in the course of a Race Day” are a separate category.
Decision:
On the basis therefore that the adjourned Hearing is to be heard on a Race Day the Committee orders that Miss Chilcott is not entitled to be represented at the Hearing.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Request Ruling
Rules: 1118(2)
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Miss NA Chilcott, Mr N Ydgren - Stipendiary Steward, Mr M Branch (Observing)
Respondent:
StipendSteward: Mr JM Muirhead
raceid: d49d9afb3c9e75894ffd332ebc3a7f40
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: N/A
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: e8040ee440db37034dd8f0c09b57b795
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 29/12/2010
meet_title: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC - 29 December 2010
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: cambridge-te-awamutu-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: BScott
meet_pm1: JHolloway
meet_pm2: none
name: Cambridge - Te Awamutu HRC