Canterbury Racing 24 February 2012 – R 1 (request for a ruling)
ID: JCA17730
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Canterbury Racing - 24 February 2012
Meet Chair:
KHales
Meet Committee Member 1:
JMillar
Race Date:
2012/02/24
Race Number:
R1
Decision:
After due consideration, the Judicial Committee's ruling is that "Horsewifnoname" and "London Dream" are declared non-starters. They were denied a fair start as a result of the mechanical failure of the false start siren device.
Facts:
Immediately following the start of Race 1, the trackside false start siren was activated. As a consequence of this, which seemingly was heard by a number of the jockeys, three horses , in particular, were affected. Mr Walsh, riding "Horsewifnoname" and Ms Williams riding "London Dream" elected to restrain their horses as they believed a false start had been called. Mr Walsh said that it was not over to jockeys to assume anything other than a false start had been called. He acknowledged that the trackside starter's assistant had not waved his red flag but said that the waving of the flag was only part of the procedure. So far as he was concerned, the siren had sounded and that meant a false start. Mr Walsh was of the view that because of this incident, that the race should be declared void. He referred to a precedent where the fact situation was similar and which had happened at a Grand National meeting some years ago, where the race was declared void. Ms Williams concurred with Mr Walsh.
Ms Mundy on "Global Partner" said that she heard the siren and sat up on her mount for about 50 metres but then elected to continue in the race and rode her horse out on its merits. She maintained that she remained competitive. She did not support Mr Walsh's submission that the race should be declared void.
The remainder of the jockeys were given the opportunity to comment. The consensus among those who heard the siren, said they ignored it and carried on riding competitively. None of them raised any concerns about being disadvantaged. Others did not hear the siren.
Ms Clark, the Starter, told the hearing that she did not understand why the siren was sounded. She said that she cannot activate the device from her starters' ladder. She did not wave her flag and thus, from her perspective, it was not a false start. Mr Wood, the trackside false start steward said that only he can activate the trackside siren and that he did not do so. He said that he was about fifty feet away from the device when it activated.
Mr Jim Langan, the Canterbury Jockey Club's Raceday Secretary, said that from the Club's perspective, the race should not be declared void. He said that the place getters all raced on their merits and would be unfairly affected if the race was declared void. He drew our attention to the fact that only two horses were pulled up and did not participate fully in the race.
Mr Ray, did not have submissions of any substance as he took the view that it was entirely a matter for the Judicial Committee to determine.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Walsh and Ms Williams were of the view that the race should be declared void. Ms Munday, who was effectively the spokesperson for the remainder of the jockeys was of the view that the race should not be declared void, but instead, "Horsewifnoname" and "London Dream" should be declared non-runners.
Reasons for Decision:
We consider that the trackside false start siren is an integral part of the starting stall procedure. It malfunctioned. Two jockeys made decisions independently of each other, to restrain their mounts as they understood there had been a false start. They cannot be criticised for that. Because they took the actions that they took, we deem there to have been a mechanical failure, which in terms of Rule 632 prevented those horses from taking an effective part in the race.
As a footnote, no criticism is levelled at those jockeys who ignored the siren. They could see nothing amiss and carried on in a competitive manner.
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: e5a63caeaab8eae79117842f76e06cb3
informantnumber:
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 14/02/2012
hearing_title: Canterbury Racing 24 February 2012 - R 1 (request for a ruling)
charge:
facts:
Immediately following the start of Race 1, the trackside false start siren was activated. As a consequence of this, which seemingly was heard by a number of the jockeys, three horses , in particular, were affected. Mr Walsh, riding "Horsewifnoname" and Ms Williams riding "London Dream" elected to restrain their horses as they believed a false start had been called. Mr Walsh said that it was not over to jockeys to assume anything other than a false start had been called. He acknowledged that the trackside starter's assistant had not waved his red flag but said that the waving of the flag was only part of the procedure. So far as he was concerned, the siren had sounded and that meant a false start. Mr Walsh was of the view that because of this incident, that the race should be declared void. He referred to a precedent where the fact situation was similar and which had happened at a Grand National meeting some years ago, where the race was declared void. Ms Williams concurred with Mr Walsh.
Ms Mundy on "Global Partner" said that she heard the siren and sat up on her mount for about 50 metres but then elected to continue in the race and rode her horse out on its merits. She maintained that she remained competitive. She did not support Mr Walsh's submission that the race should be declared void.
The remainder of the jockeys were given the opportunity to comment. The consensus among those who heard the siren, said they ignored it and carried on riding competitively. None of them raised any concerns about being disadvantaged. Others did not hear the siren.
Ms Clark, the Starter, told the hearing that she did not understand why the siren was sounded. She said that she cannot activate the device from her starters' ladder. She did not wave her flag and thus, from her perspective, it was not a false start. Mr Wood, the trackside false start steward said that only he can activate the trackside siren and that he did not do so. He said that he was about fifty feet away from the device when it activated.
Mr Jim Langan, the Canterbury Jockey Club's Raceday Secretary, said that from the Club's perspective, the race should not be declared void. He said that the place getters all raced on their merits and would be unfairly affected if the race was declared void. He drew our attention to the fact that only two horses were pulled up and did not participate fully in the race.
Mr Ray, did not have submissions of any substance as he took the view that it was entirely a matter for the Judicial Committee to determine.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Walsh and Ms Williams were of the view that the race should be declared void. Ms Munday, who was effectively the spokesperson for the remainder of the jockeys was of the view that the race should not be declared void, but instead, "Horsewifnoname" and "London Dream" should be declared non-runners.
reasonsfordecision:
We consider that the trackside false start siren is an integral part of the starting stall procedure. It malfunctioned. Two jockeys made decisions independently of each other, to restrain their mounts as they understood there had been a false start. They cannot be criticised for that. Because they took the actions that they took, we deem there to have been a mechanical failure, which in terms of Rule 632 prevented those horses from taking an effective part in the race.
As a footnote, no criticism is levelled at those jockeys who ignored the siren. They could see nothing amiss and carried on in a competitive manner.
Decision:
After due consideration, the Judicial Committee's ruling is that "Horsewifnoname" and "London Dream" are declared non-starters. They were denied a fair start as a result of the mechanical failure of the false start siren device.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Request Ruling
Rules: Rule 631(6)(c), Except as provided in Rules 628(1) and 631(4), where:, (c) any horse or horses is prevented by mechanical failure of the starting stalls from participating in the race,, the Judicial Committe shall have absolute discretion to determine whether the race shall be deemed to have been run, or to be void, provided, that in exercising such discretion the Judicial Committee shall have regard to:, (e) the interests of the public who invested on that race...., Rule 632:, If, in the opinion the Judicial Committee, a horse which does not finish in the first three placings was prevented from taking an effective part in a race owing to the mechanical failure of starting stalls or is denied a fair start and such occurrence materially prejudiced the chances of that horse (but not where the horse is slow away by its own accord), the Judicial Committee may declare such a horse to be a non-starter
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: M Cameron - Licensed Jockey, D Lui - Apprentice Jockey, J Morris - Licensed Jockey, R Hutchings- Apprentice Jockey, A McKay - Apprentice Jockey, L Whelan - Apprentice Jockey, D Walsh - Licensed Jockey, K Williams - Licensed Jockey, L Allpress - Licensed Jockey, A Mundy - Licensed Jockey, Ms SP Clark - Starter, Mr J Langan - Canterbury Jockey Club, M Hudson - Apprentice Jockey, Mr J Wood - Trackside Starter's Assistant
Respondent:
StipendSteward: Mr A L Ray - Stipendiary Steward, M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward
raceid: a80b1a80aec1b8f238e3344e94148b9c
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R1
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 16ffdd88dc935ab646ff10ec9087f9a7
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 24/02/2012
meet_title: Canterbury Racing - 24 February 2012
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: canterbury-racing
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: KHales
meet_pm1: JMillar
meet_pm2: none
name: Canterbury Racing