Canterbury R 26 June 2021 – R 4 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA16397
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Canterbury JC - 26 June 2021
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
DAnderson
Race Date:
2021-06-26 00:00:00.0000000
Race Number:
R4
Decision:
Ms Williams has admitted the breach and, accordingly, the charge is found proved.
Penalty:
Ms Williams is fined the sum of $300.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 4, Optimise Fertilisers & Equi-Lise Rating 74, an Information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr J P Oatham, against Licensed Jockey (Class A), Ms K Williams, alleging that as the Rider of MISS TAVI in the race, she committed a breach of Rule 638 (3) (b) (ii) in respect of her “whip use prior to the 100 metres”.
Ms Williams had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the Information form indicating that she admitted the breach. She confirmed this at the hearing at which she was present.
Rule 638 provides as follows:
(3) A rider shall not:
(b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is:
(ii) excessive.
The NZTR Directive regarding Acceptable Use of the Whip provides as follows:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b), a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Prior to the 100-metre mark in a race, official trial or jump out:
(i) The whip should not be used on more than 5 occasions.
(ii) The whip should not be used in consecutive strides.
(iii) The rider may at their discretion use the whip with a slapping motion down the shoulder, with the whip hand remaining on the reins.
Mr Oatham showed a video replay of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out MISS TAVI, ridden by Ms Williams, improving 3-wide to the lead as the field entered the home straight. Shortly thereafter, Ms Williams commenced using her whip and, Mr Oatham alleged, she used it on eight occasions prior to the 100 metres.
Ms Williams said that one of the strikes was on the horse’s shoulder. She said that the mare had her ears pricked for the entire race. She was not stopping but, rather, looking around and she was just trying to keep her going, she said. However, she had admitted the breach, she said. Mr Oatham agreed that the horse appeared to be doing it too easily and “loafing”.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Oatham said that the breach was low-end. Ms Williams has an excellent record and is not a Rider that Stewards have to speak to often about her whip use, he said. He submitted that a possible aggravating factor was that MISS TAVI had gone on to win the race, but he was not submitting that the whip use had a lot to do with its win, the horse having won comfortably. A fine of $300 as per the NZTR Revised Penalty Guidelines was appropriate unless the Committee decided that the horse winning the race was an aggravating factor, he said.
Ms Williams declined the opportunity to make any penalty submission.
Reasons for Penalty:
A fine of $300 as per the Penalty Guidelines is appropriate for this breach. It was a clear low-level breach and, the Committee accepts, the whip use was most likely, as explained, to keep the horse’s mind on the job. While in certain circumstances, the whip use could be viewed as an aggravating factor, the Committee does not necessarily see it as such in this case and, in any event, is of the view that that factor is more than offset by Ms Williams' excellent record.
Decision Date: 30/06/2021
Publish Date: 30/06/2021
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: af05236b1cafe5bbfd624c982cc8685f
informantnumber: A14075
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 30/06/2021
hearing_title: Canterbury R 26 June 2021 - R 4 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 4, Optimise Fertilisers & Equi-Lise Rating 74, an Information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr J P Oatham, against Licensed Jockey (Class A), Ms K Williams, alleging that as the Rider of MISS TAVI in the race, she committed a breach of Rule 638 (3) (b) (ii) in respect of her “whip use prior to the 100 metres”.
Ms Williams had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the Information form indicating that she admitted the breach. She confirmed this at the hearing at which she was present.
Rule 638 provides as follows:
(3) A rider shall not:
(b) strike a horse with a whip in a manner or to an extent which is:
(ii) excessive.
The NZTR Directive regarding Acceptable Use of the Whip provides as follows:
Without affecting the generality of Rule 638(3)(b), a rider may be penalised if their whip use is outside of the following guidelines:
Prior to the 100-metre mark in a race, official trial or jump out:
(i) The whip should not be used on more than 5 occasions.
(ii) The whip should not be used in consecutive strides.
(iii) The rider may at their discretion use the whip with a slapping motion down the shoulder, with the whip hand remaining on the reins.
Mr Oatham showed a video replay of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out MISS TAVI, ridden by Ms Williams, improving 3-wide to the lead as the field entered the home straight. Shortly thereafter, Ms Williams commenced using her whip and, Mr Oatham alleged, she used it on eight occasions prior to the 100 metres.
Ms Williams said that one of the strikes was on the horse’s shoulder. She said that the mare had her ears pricked for the entire race. She was not stopping but, rather, looking around and she was just trying to keep her going, she said. However, she had admitted the breach, she said. Mr Oatham agreed that the horse appeared to be doing it too easily and “loafing”.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Ms Williams has admitted the breach and, accordingly, the charge is found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Oatham said that the breach was low-end. Ms Williams has an excellent record and is not a Rider that Stewards have to speak to often about her whip use, he said. He submitted that a possible aggravating factor was that MISS TAVI had gone on to win the race, but he was not submitting that the whip use had a lot to do with its win, the horse having won comfortably. A fine of $300 as per the NZTR Revised Penalty Guidelines was appropriate unless the Committee decided that the horse winning the race was an aggravating factor, he said.
Ms Williams declined the opportunity to make any penalty submission.
reasonsforpenalty:
A fine of $300 as per the Penalty Guidelines is appropriate for this breach. It was a clear low-level breach and, the Committee accepts, the whip use was most likely, as explained, to keep the horse’s mind on the job. While in certain circumstances, the whip use could be viewed as an aggravating factor, the Committee does not necessarily see it as such in this case and, in any event, is of the view that that factor is more than offset by Ms Williams' excellent record.
penalty:
Ms Williams is fined the sum of $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(3)(b)(ii)
Informant: Chief Stipendiary Steward, J P Oatham
JockeysandTrainer: K Williams, Licensed Jockey (Class A)
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 04426c1955ba76076dbde2612484162b
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R4
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: cd7c641dd865936874293ef22946f972
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 26/06/2021
meet_title: Canterbury JC - 26 June 2021
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: canterbury-jc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: DAnderson
meet_pm2: none
name: Canterbury JC