Hawera HRC 6 April 2015 – R 11
ID: JCA12645
Meet Title:
Hawera HRC - 6 April 2015
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
TUtikere
Race Date:
2015/04/06
Race Number:
R11
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of race 11, the “TSB Realty Brendan Crowley Mobile Pace” Information A7462 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay alleging a breach of Rule 869(2)(a) by Open Horseman Mr S McCaffrey. The Information stated “horseman S McCaffrey used his whip excessively driving “Styx It To Em” over the concluding stages”. Mr McCaffrey signed the Information admitting the breach and also confirmed at the beginning of the hearing that he understood the Rule under which he had been charged.
Rule 869(2)(a) states:- “No horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.”
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Mulcay used the side-on film to identify Mr McCaffrey driving “Styx It To Em” racing immediately behind the leader as the field entered the top of the straight. Mr Mulcay said Mr McCaffrey was able to move into the passing lane and once there he commenced using his whip. He said Mr McCaffrey used his whip approximately 25 times over the final 250m in a rapid fire manner with no discernible pauses. He noted that “Styx It To Em" finished a close up second in the race.
Mr McCaffrey said he did not dispute Mr Mulcay’s comment that the whip was used approximately 25 times. He said he had been encouraging rather than punishing his horse all the way down the straight and had hit the sulky shift and dust sheet rather than the horse. He said there were no marks on his horse – which could be confirmed by Stipendiary Steward Mr Jones if necessary – although he conceded that the forcefulness of his action did not look good on the film.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay said Mr McCaffrey had not breached this Rule in the previous 12 months. He said he had readily admitted the breach and whilst the JCA Guidelines stated the starting point for a breach of the Rule was a $300 fine or a 6 drives suspension he submitted a fine of $200 was an appropriate penalty in this case.
Mr McCaffrey said he understood that his actions were unacceptable but asked the Committee to note that he had a good record in relation to this Rule and re-iterated that he had not hit his horse as there were no marks on it.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has reviewed the side-on film of the final 300m of the race and note Mr McCaffrey used his whip approximately 25 times in the final 250m of the race with the majority of the strikes being quite forceful. Whilst Mr McCaffrey is partially obscured for some of those 250m his arm action is not and we agree with Mr Mulcay that there were no real pauses until the final few metres of the race. We also note that Mr McCaffrey indicated he was aware of the guidelines relating to the use of the whip which includes using the whip on the sulky or dust sheet. The Committee believes the severity of breach of the rules to be in the mid range given the number of strikes and forcefulness of them.
Mr McCaffrey has not breached this Rule in the previous 12 months and admitted today’s breach at the earliest opportunity. The JCA Penalty Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $300 fine or 6 drive suspension. Having reviewed recent penalties for similar recent breaches of this Rule by “first time offenders” to ensure we are consistent in determining the appropriate penalty the Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty.
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: 43dd006dfb24e1235bc0bfa9a1f8dda1
informantnumber: A7462
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of the Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 02/04/2015
hearing_title: Hawera HRC 6 April 2015 - R 11
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 11, the “TSB Realty Brendan Crowley Mobile Pace” Information A7462 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay alleging a breach of Rule 869(2)(a) by Open Horseman Mr S McCaffrey. The Information stated “horseman S McCaffrey used his whip excessively driving “Styx It To Em” over the concluding stages”. Mr McCaffrey signed the Information admitting the breach and also confirmed at the beginning of the hearing that he understood the Rule under which he had been charged.
Rule 869(2)(a) states:- “No horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.”
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Mulcay used the side-on film to identify Mr McCaffrey driving “Styx It To Em” racing immediately behind the leader as the field entered the top of the straight. Mr Mulcay said Mr McCaffrey was able to move into the passing lane and once there he commenced using his whip. He said Mr McCaffrey used his whip approximately 25 times over the final 250m in a rapid fire manner with no discernible pauses. He noted that “Styx It To Em" finished a close up second in the race.
Mr McCaffrey said he did not dispute Mr Mulcay’s comment that the whip was used approximately 25 times. He said he had been encouraging rather than punishing his horse all the way down the straight and had hit the sulky shift and dust sheet rather than the horse. He said there were no marks on his horse – which could be confirmed by Stipendiary Steward Mr Jones if necessary – although he conceded that the forcefulness of his action did not look good on the film.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay said Mr McCaffrey had not breached this Rule in the previous 12 months. He said he had readily admitted the breach and whilst the JCA Guidelines stated the starting point for a breach of the Rule was a $300 fine or a 6 drives suspension he submitted a fine of $200 was an appropriate penalty in this case.
Mr McCaffrey said he understood that his actions were unacceptable but asked the Committee to note that he had a good record in relation to this Rule and re-iterated that he had not hit his horse as there were no marks on it.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has reviewed the side-on film of the final 300m of the race and note Mr McCaffrey used his whip approximately 25 times in the final 250m of the race with the majority of the strikes being quite forceful. Whilst Mr McCaffrey is partially obscured for some of those 250m his arm action is not and we agree with Mr Mulcay that there were no real pauses until the final few metres of the race. We also note that Mr McCaffrey indicated he was aware of the guidelines relating to the use of the whip which includes using the whip on the sulky or dust sheet. The Committee believes the severity of breach of the rules to be in the mid range given the number of strikes and forcefulness of them.
Mr McCaffrey has not breached this Rule in the previous 12 months and admitted today’s breach at the earliest opportunity. The JCA Penalty Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $300 fine or 6 drive suspension. Having reviewed recent penalties for similar recent breaches of this Rule by “first time offenders” to ensure we are consistent in determining the appropriate penalty the Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S McCaffrey - Open Horseman
Otherperson: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward, Mr B Jones - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 0d109c78d204aaaefc108b8db0000a21
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R11
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 9a72890e03c5fdec645a209a6b2a148f
meet_expapproval: approved
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 06/04/2015
meet_title: Hawera HRC - 6 April 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km: [{"Comment": [], "MemberRole": "Chair ", "MemberID": "PWilliams", "Member": "", "OtherExpenses": "0", "KMs": "468", "Total": "290.16", "kmprice": 290.16000000000003, "Approved": "on"}]
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: hawera-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: TUtikere
meet_pm2: none
name: Hawera HRC