Archive Decision

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Canterbury JC 15 November 2017 – R 10 – Chair, Prof G Hall

ID: JCA16246

Applicant:
Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Ms A Collett - Licensed Jockey

Other Person:
Mr J McLaughlin - Stipendiary Steward

Information Number:
A9535

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Careless Riding

Rules:
638(1)(d)

Plea:
admitted

Code:
Thoroughbred

Meet Title:
Canterbury Racing - 15 November 2017

Meet Chair:
GHall

Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing

Race Date:
2017/11/15

Race Number:
R 10

Decision:

As Ms A Collett has admitted the breach, it is found to be proved.

Penalty:

Ms A Collett is suspended for 10 National days. This is from the end of racing on 18 November up to and including 3 December. We have not included Waverley 19 November in this calculation as riders have been declared for this meeting.

Mr Oatham has submitted a fine in addition to a suspension is appropriate as the respondent’s breach was close to the line and he believed she was of the view that she would win the race and thus just kept riding her horse out rather than taking corrective action. We accept the logic of this submission. Fines with respect to Group 1 races have been in the four-figure range. This race is Group 2. We believe a fine of $700 is appropriate.

Ms Collett is also fined the sum of $700.

Facts:

Mr Oatham alleged that Ms Collett allowed her mount SHADOWS CAST to shift out when not clear crowding and checking BEEFEATER over the concluding stages of race 10, the COUPLAND’S BAKERIES MILE.

Ms A Collett confirmed at the commencement of the hearing that she admitted the breach.

Mr McLaughlin demonstrated on the videos that some 30 metres from the winning post, the respondent, drifted out into the line of Ms S Collett, who finished in fifth position. As a consequence Ms S Collett had to check her horse and the Stewards were of the opinion that this may have cost her fourth placing.

The respondent stated that she believed BOOTS 'N' ALL (which finished third) had also run in and she was not sure that her actions had cost Ms S Collett fourth placing, as her horse BEEFEATER was “battling”. In her opinion, WATCH THIS SPACE, which had finished fourth, was finishing off the race better than BEEFEATER.

The respondent stated that she did not feel that she was drifting outwards at the time as she thought she saw a gap to Mr Johnson on her inside and this distance had remained constant during her run to the line. She accepted she was riding to win but reiterated she did not know she was drifting out. She believed her horse had only drifted out a quarter of a horse width.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Oatham produced the respondent’s record. This was Ms A Collett’s 6th breach of the careless riding rule in the past 12 months. While this was a large number of breaches, he said it had to be viewed in the context that Ms A Collett was a busy rider, perhaps in the top 2 or 3 in the country recently for number of rides. That she would fall foul of the rules from time to time was thus perhaps “inevitable”. He submitted her record when viewed in this context could be regarded as a neutral factor.

Mr Oatham described the breach as mid range and that the 8-day starting point in the JCA Penalty Guide should be uplifted to 10 to 12 rides having regard to the Group 2 status of the race. The difference in prize money between fourth and fifth was $5000.

Reasons for Penalty:

We are satisfied that the extent to which the respondent has shifted outwards is more than the quarter of a horse width that she has described. It is at least a horse width and perhaps a width and a half. It is at a significant point in the race. We are not required to determine whether BEEFEATER would have finished fourth, the significant point is that the horse was denied the opportunity to finish in that position when there was a reasonable prospect of it so doing.

Mr Oatham has described the respondent’s actions as her throwing caution to the wind. We believe this is a fair assessment. We have difficulty in accepting her submission that she not aware she was drifting wider on the track, when the distance she has shifted is as we have previously described.

The breach is correctly described as mid range. We take an eight-day starting point and increase this to 11 days to reflect the fact it is a Group 2 race. We give a one-day discount for the respondent’s admission of the breach. We accept the informant’s submission that her record can be regarded as a neutral factor.

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: cf3c26473b73ac858fb84a535485f7f9


informantnumber: A9535


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Careless Riding


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 19/11/2017


hearing_title: Canterbury JC 15 November 2017 - R 10 - Chair, Prof G Hall


charge:


facts:

Mr Oatham alleged that Ms Collett allowed her mount SHADOWS CAST to shift out when not clear crowding and checking BEEFEATER over the concluding stages of race 10, the COUPLAND’S BAKERIES MILE.

Ms A Collett confirmed at the commencement of the hearing that she admitted the breach.

Mr McLaughlin demonstrated on the videos that some 30 metres from the winning post, the respondent, drifted out into the line of Ms S Collett, who finished in fifth position. As a consequence Ms S Collett had to check her horse and the Stewards were of the opinion that this may have cost her fourth placing.

The respondent stated that she believed BOOTS 'N' ALL (which finished third) had also run in and she was not sure that her actions had cost Ms S Collett fourth placing, as her horse BEEFEATER was “battling”. In her opinion, WATCH THIS SPACE, which had finished fourth, was finishing off the race better than BEEFEATER.

The respondent stated that she did not feel that she was drifting outwards at the time as she thought she saw a gap to Mr Johnson on her inside and this distance had remained constant during her run to the line. She accepted she was riding to win but reiterated she did not know she was drifting out. She believed her horse had only drifted out a quarter of a horse width.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

As Ms A Collett has admitted the breach, it is found to be proved.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Oatham produced the respondent’s record. This was Ms A Collett’s 6th breach of the careless riding rule in the past 12 months. While this was a large number of breaches, he said it had to be viewed in the context that Ms A Collett was a busy rider, perhaps in the top 2 or 3 in the country recently for number of rides. That she would fall foul of the rules from time to time was thus perhaps “inevitable”. He submitted her record when viewed in this context could be regarded as a neutral factor.

Mr Oatham described the breach as mid range and that the 8-day starting point in the JCA Penalty Guide should be uplifted to 10 to 12 rides having regard to the Group 2 status of the race. The difference in prize money between fourth and fifth was $5000.


reasonsforpenalty:

We are satisfied that the extent to which the respondent has shifted outwards is more than the quarter of a horse width that she has described. It is at least a horse width and perhaps a width and a half. It is at a significant point in the race. We are not required to determine whether BEEFEATER would have finished fourth, the significant point is that the horse was denied the opportunity to finish in that position when there was a reasonable prospect of it so doing.

Mr Oatham has described the respondent’s actions as her throwing caution to the wind. We believe this is a fair assessment. We have difficulty in accepting her submission that she not aware she was drifting wider on the track, when the distance she has shifted is as we have previously described.

The breach is correctly described as mid range. We take an eight-day starting point and increase this to 11 days to reflect the fact it is a Group 2 race. We give a one-day discount for the respondent’s admission of the breach. We accept the informant’s submission that her record can be regarded as a neutral factor.


penalty:

Ms A Collett is suspended for 10 National days. This is from the end of racing on 18 November up to and including 3 December. We have not included Waverley 19 November in this calculation as riders have been declared for this meeting.

Mr Oatham has submitted a fine in addition to a suspension is appropriate as the respondent’s breach was close to the line and he believed she was of the view that she would win the race and thus just kept riding her horse out rather than taking corrective action. We accept the logic of this submission. Fines with respect to Group 1 races have been in the four-figure range. This race is Group 2. We believe a fine of $700 is appropriate.

Ms Collett is also fined the sum of $700.


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: 638(1)(d)


Informant: Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: Ms A Collett - Licensed Jockey


Otherperson: Mr J McLaughlin - Stipendiary Steward


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: fcf2bf588bcb2e09c32d4ca8c619f644


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R 10


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: 02ab581b4c5b59154155aff297ced645


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 15/11/2017


meet_title: Canterbury Racing - 15 November 2017


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: canterbury-racing


meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing


meet_chair: GHall


meet_pm1: SChing


meet_pm2: none


name: Canterbury Racing