HR Waikato 18 August 2016 – R 2 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA17637
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 18 August 2016
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley
Race Date:
2016/08/18
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
The Committee is satisfied that the elements of the charge against Mr Blakemore have been established and therefore we upheld the charge.
Penalty:
Accordingly, the Committee considered that a fine of $300 to be an appropriate penalty in this matter.
Facts:
Following the running of race 2, the NORTH ISLAND HARNESS AWARDS AMATEUR DRIVERS MOBILE PACE, an Information was lodged by Mr Muirhead alleging that Amateur Horseman, Mr P Blakemore, driving ZAKSPATROL, drove in a manner which caused interference by allowing his gelding to shift in on the final turn and tighten ELLIOT DANIEL (T Thorby ) down onto SPEAK UP (S Wigg ) which was checked and paced roughly.
Mr Blakemore was present at the hearing and advised the Committee that he did not admit the breach
Mr Muirhead stated that the Stipendiary Stewards intended calling Amateur Horseman, Mr T Thorby as a witness.
Rule 869(4) states " No horseman shall during any race do anything which interferes or is likely to interfere with his own horse and/or any other horse or its progress.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident using the available video films. He identified at the 400 metres that ZAKSPATROL was improving on the outside and racing in a 4 wide position. He said that near the turn, Mr Blakemore had shifted in to a 2 1/2 wide position which resulted in tightening to ELLIOT DANIEL who in turn moved down onto SPEAK UP, which was checked and paced roughly when running out of racing room. He identified that Mr Thorby, the driver of ELLIOT DANIEL, was trying to keep his horse out but Mr Blakemore did not give him enough room to do so.
Mr Blakemore did not wish to cross-examine Mr Muirhead.
Mr Muirhead then called Mr Thorby as a witness. Mr Thorby stated that rounding the home bend he was getting pressure from ZAKSPATROL on his outsside and he said he got 'sandwiched' in the middle which resulted in SPEAK UP being checked. Using the films, Mr Thorby demonstrated what had taken place as he had earlier explained.
Mr Blakemore had no questions of Mr Thorby.
Mr Blakemore stated that in his opinion Mr Thorby moved in slightly, and he believed he was clear of Mr Thorby when he moved down. Mr Blakemore said that the actual check to SPEAK UP was when he (Mr Blakemore) was clear of ELLIOT DANIEL. He added that he did not believe that he altered his line of running. Mr Blakemore repeated his belief that in his opinion he was clear of ELLIOT DANIEL when it was checked and that it was not the result of anything he had done.
In summing up, Mr Muirhead said that Mr Blakemore did not leave sufficient room for Mr Thorby when moved inwards which resulted in SPEAK UP being checked. He said Mr Thorby was 'wriggling' in his sulky as he was trying to relieve the pressure on Ms Wigg who was slightly behind him on his inside.
Mr Blakemore, in summing up, stated that Mr Thorby was not in a position to push him any wider on the track.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee took the oportunity to view the films snd make their own assessment as to what had taken place.
It was clear that prior to the home turn, at around the 400m mark, there was at least one full sulky width between ZAKSPATROL and ELLIOT DANIEL. ZAKSPATROL was in a 5 wide position, and as the horses rounded the home turn, Mr Blakemore allowed ZAKSPATROL to shift inwards when he did not have a clear advantage over ELLIOT DANIEL. It was clear that at that stage ZAKSPATROL was about a long neck ahead of ELLIOT DANIEL. It was also clear that as a result of being tightened ELLIOT DANIEL became fractious and threw its head up
Mr Thorby is seen to be attempting to restrain the horse, which in turn resulted in SPEAK UP receiving pressure. As a result SPEAK UP went off stride and lost its position.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead produced Mr Blakemore's driving record which showed no prior breaches of this Rule within the past 12 months. He added that the JCA Penalty Guide provided a starting point of a 6 drive suspension or a fine of $300 for a breach of the Rule. Mr Muirhead stated that the Stewards believed this breach fell into the above-medium range on the scale of seriousness, and that they believed a fine of around $300 would be an appropriate penalty.
Mr Blakemore said he considered a monetary penalty would suffice.
Reasons for Penalty:
In assessing a penalty, the Committee did not consider the fact that Mr Blakemore had defended the charge to be an issue. However, the consequences of his actions were that, 2 horses were taken out of contention as the field turned into the final straight. Mr Blakemore won the race on ZAKSPATROL, however the Committee was satisfied that his earlier actions which resulted in this charge did not have any effect on the eventual placings. We took into account Mr Blakemore's clear record, and believed that a fine would be an appropriate penalty.
In considering the amount of that fine, we were guided by the JCA Penalty Guide, and the fines imposed recently on other drivers in similar circumstances.
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: fd6f5582cab2eef0a536c0b88264707f
informantnumber: A3737
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Causing interference
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 20/08/2016
hearing_title: HR Waikato 18 August 2016 - R 2 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 2, the NORTH ISLAND HARNESS AWARDS AMATEUR DRIVERS MOBILE PACE, an Information was lodged by Mr Muirhead alleging that Amateur Horseman, Mr P Blakemore, driving ZAKSPATROL, drove in a manner which caused interference by allowing his gelding to shift in on the final turn and tighten ELLIOT DANIEL (T Thorby ) down onto SPEAK UP (S Wigg ) which was checked and paced roughly.
Mr Blakemore was present at the hearing and advised the Committee that he did not admit the breach
Mr Muirhead stated that the Stipendiary Stewards intended calling Amateur Horseman, Mr T Thorby as a witness.
Rule 869(4) states " No horseman shall during any race do anything which interferes or is likely to interfere with his own horse and/or any other horse or its progress.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident using the available video films. He identified at the 400 metres that ZAKSPATROL was improving on the outside and racing in a 4 wide position. He said that near the turn, Mr Blakemore had shifted in to a 2 1/2 wide position which resulted in tightening to ELLIOT DANIEL who in turn moved down onto SPEAK UP, which was checked and paced roughly when running out of racing room. He identified that Mr Thorby, the driver of ELLIOT DANIEL, was trying to keep his horse out but Mr Blakemore did not give him enough room to do so.
Mr Blakemore did not wish to cross-examine Mr Muirhead.
Mr Muirhead then called Mr Thorby as a witness. Mr Thorby stated that rounding the home bend he was getting pressure from ZAKSPATROL on his outsside and he said he got 'sandwiched' in the middle which resulted in SPEAK UP being checked. Using the films, Mr Thorby demonstrated what had taken place as he had earlier explained.
Mr Blakemore had no questions of Mr Thorby.
Mr Blakemore stated that in his opinion Mr Thorby moved in slightly, and he believed he was clear of Mr Thorby when he moved down. Mr Blakemore said that the actual check to SPEAK UP was when he (Mr Blakemore) was clear of ELLIOT DANIEL. He added that he did not believe that he altered his line of running. Mr Blakemore repeated his belief that in his opinion he was clear of ELLIOT DANIEL when it was checked and that it was not the result of anything he had done.
In summing up, Mr Muirhead said that Mr Blakemore did not leave sufficient room for Mr Thorby when moved inwards which resulted in SPEAK UP being checked. He said Mr Thorby was 'wriggling' in his sulky as he was trying to relieve the pressure on Ms Wigg who was slightly behind him on his inside.
Mr Blakemore, in summing up, stated that Mr Thorby was not in a position to push him any wider on the track.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee took the oportunity to view the films snd make their own assessment as to what had taken place.
It was clear that prior to the home turn, at around the 400m mark, there was at least one full sulky width between ZAKSPATROL and ELLIOT DANIEL. ZAKSPATROL was in a 5 wide position, and as the horses rounded the home turn, Mr Blakemore allowed ZAKSPATROL to shift inwards when he did not have a clear advantage over ELLIOT DANIEL. It was clear that at that stage ZAKSPATROL was about a long neck ahead of ELLIOT DANIEL. It was also clear that as a result of being tightened ELLIOT DANIEL became fractious and threw its head up
Mr Thorby is seen to be attempting to restrain the horse, which in turn resulted in SPEAK UP receiving pressure. As a result SPEAK UP went off stride and lost its position.
Decision:
The Committee is satisfied that the elements of the charge against Mr Blakemore have been established and therefore we upheld the charge.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead produced Mr Blakemore's driving record which showed no prior breaches of this Rule within the past 12 months. He added that the JCA Penalty Guide provided a starting point of a 6 drive suspension or a fine of $300 for a breach of the Rule. Mr Muirhead stated that the Stewards believed this breach fell into the above-medium range on the scale of seriousness, and that they believed a fine of around $300 would be an appropriate penalty.
Mr Blakemore said he considered a monetary penalty would suffice.
reasonsforpenalty:
In assessing a penalty, the Committee did not consider the fact that Mr Blakemore had defended the charge to be an issue. However, the consequences of his actions were that, 2 horses were taken out of contention as the field turned into the final straight. Mr Blakemore won the race on ZAKSPATROL, however the Committee was satisfied that his earlier actions which resulted in this charge did not have any effect on the eventual placings. We took into account Mr Blakemore's clear record, and believed that a fine would be an appropriate penalty.
In considering the amount of that fine, we were guided by the JCA Penalty Guide, and the fines imposed recently on other drivers in similar circumstances.
penalty:
Accordingly, the Committee considered that a fine of $300 to be an appropriate penalty in this matter.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(4)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr P Blakemore - Amateur Horseman
Otherperson: Mr T Thorby - Amateur Horseman
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: d3141bca9dd107ba34e3cfe4056b41fc
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race_emailed1: 0
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race_title: R2
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meetdate: 18/08/2016
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 18 August 2016
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tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
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name: Harness Racing Waikato