Archive Decision

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Canterbury JC 30 May 2013 – R 5

ID: JCA12292

Applicant:
J McLaughlin - Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
RA Doherty - Apprentice Jockey

Other Person:
Mr W Harnett - Apprentice Jockey Mentor

Information Number:
A1909

Hearing Type:
Hearing

Rules:
Rule 638(3), A Rider shall not:, (b)strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is unnecessary, excessive or improper;

Plea:
admitted

Code:
Thoroughbred

Meet Title:
Canterbury Racing - 30 May 2013

Meet Chair:
KHales

Meet Committee Member 1:
RMcKenzie

Race Date:
2013/05/30

Race Number:
R5

Decision:

As Mr Doherty admitted the charge, it was deemed to be proved.

Penalty:

Mr Doherty was fined $350.

Charge:

It was alleged that Apprentice Jockey R Doherty used his whip in an excessive manner in the final straight.

Facts:

Apprentice Jockey R Doherty rode "Jimmy The One" in Race 5 on the second day of the Canterbury Jockey Club's Autumn Carnival. From about the 400 metre mark to the 200 metre mark, Mr Doherty used his whip about 16 times on his horse, in clear breach of the Use of the Whip guide lines, without returning his whip hand to the whip rein at any time.

In explanation, Mr Doherty said that he had to whip his horse to get any response from it. He said that he had to whip it a couple of times, at the start to get the horse "interested" in the race. He said that the heavy track was not helping. At the 400 metre mark, he said that he got a good response from the horse and he could detect that from that response that he had a chance of winning. From that point, as a result of the response he got, Mr Doherty said that he got a bit "tunnel visioned", and didn't return his hand to the whip rein, as he acknowledged he should have done. Mr Doherty went on to win the race.

Mr Harnett said that the horse in question took a "lot of riding" and that it was a natural reaction for a jockey to keep whipping when he was getting a response.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr McLaughlin told the hearing that Mr Doherty had been fined $150 for a breach of the rule on 2nd December 2012. He submitted that a fine of $300 should be imposed.

Mr Doherty did not have any submissions to make with regard to penalty.

Reasons for Penalty:

In this case, we adopted a starting point of $400. There was  the aggravating feature of this charge being Mr Doherty's second breach within the current racing season, which warranted an uplift in penalty of $50, making the penalty in this case, $450. However, we took into account the mitigating features which were Mr Doherty's early admission of the breach and his co-operation with the Stipendiary Stewards, and the heavy track conditions, which meant, as Mr Harnett put it, the horse required "extra riding". These mitigating features meant that we could allow a discount of $100.

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: 4a62115ffd4fe0fd24a3719040e65595


informantnumber: A1909


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge:


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 31/05/2013


hearing_title: Canterbury JC 30 May 2013 - R 5


charge:

It was alleged that Apprentice Jockey R Doherty used his whip in an excessive manner in the final straight.


facts:

Apprentice Jockey R Doherty rode "Jimmy The One" in Race 5 on the second day of the Canterbury Jockey Club's Autumn Carnival. From about the 400 metre mark to the 200 metre mark, Mr Doherty used his whip about 16 times on his horse, in clear breach of the Use of the Whip guide lines, without returning his whip hand to the whip rein at any time.

In explanation, Mr Doherty said that he had to whip his horse to get any response from it. He said that he had to whip it a couple of times, at the start to get the horse "interested" in the race. He said that the heavy track was not helping. At the 400 metre mark, he said that he got a good response from the horse and he could detect that from that response that he had a chance of winning. From that point, as a result of the response he got, Mr Doherty said that he got a bit "tunnel visioned", and didn't return his hand to the whip rein, as he acknowledged he should have done. Mr Doherty went on to win the race.

Mr Harnett said that the horse in question took a "lot of riding" and that it was a natural reaction for a jockey to keep whipping when he was getting a response.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

As Mr Doherty admitted the charge, it was deemed to be proved.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr McLaughlin told the hearing that Mr Doherty had been fined $150 for a breach of the rule on 2nd December 2012. He submitted that a fine of $300 should be imposed.

Mr Doherty did not have any submissions to make with regard to penalty.


reasonsforpenalty:

In this case, we adopted a starting point of $400. There was  the aggravating feature of this charge being Mr Doherty's second breach within the current racing season, which warranted an uplift in penalty of $50, making the penalty in this case, $450. However, we took into account the mitigating features which were Mr Doherty's early admission of the breach and his co-operation with the Stipendiary Stewards, and the heavy track conditions, which meant, as Mr Harnett put it, the horse required "extra riding". These mitigating features meant that we could allow a discount of $100.


penalty:

Mr Doherty was fined $350.


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: Rule 638(3), A Rider shall not:, (b)strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is unnecessary, excessive or improper;


Informant: J McLaughlin - Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: RA Doherty - Apprentice Jockey


Otherperson: Mr W Harnett - Apprentice Jockey Mentor


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: c2ed6726dace5a3508d43d6bc1d449b4


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R5


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: 099d5da1b16456267f21fc5ce17b2f94


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 30/05/2013


meet_title: Canterbury Racing - 30 May 2013


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: canterbury-racing


meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing


meet_chair: KHales


meet_pm1: RMcKenzie


meet_pm2: none


name: Canterbury Racing