Kapiti Coast HRC 16 January 2015 – R 9
ID: JCA13754
Meet Title:
Kapiti Coast HRC - 16 January 2015
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2015/01/16
Race Number:
R9
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of race 9, the “Kapiti Ten Pin Bowling F & M Mobile Pace” Information A4225 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead under Rule 869(2)(a). The Information stated “Junior Horseman A Drake used his whip excessively driving “Eyre Hostess” over the concluding stages”. Mr Drake, who was assisted during the hearing by Open Horseman Mr Z Butcher, signed the Information admitting the breach and confirmed he understood the Rule under which he was 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 Muirhead used the head-on film of the home straight to identify Mr Drake driving “Eyre Hostess” in the 2 wide position towards the rear of the field at the top of the home straight. He said Mr Drake angled his horse out to the centre of the track and then struck his horse approximately 24-26 times in the run to the line with no significant pauses. He said the Stewards had a policy that if a driver struck his horse between 16-20 times they would receive a warning which would be entered in their record but when the number of strikes exceeded 20 a charge was always laid.
Mr Butcher, on behalf of Mr Drake, did not disagree with Mr Muirhead’s submissions. He said he had spoken to Mr Drake prior to the hearing and had advised him that he had to more careful in the use of his whip in the future. He said Mr Drake readily accepted he had breached the 20 strike threshold and understood that, as a result, there were consequences.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead said this was Mr Drake’s first breach of this Rule and that he was in his first season of driving and had limited driving opportunities to date. He said Mr Drake had readily admitted the breach and whilst the JCA Guidelines state 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 Butcher said Mr Drake had made gradual progress during the run to the line and had ended up running second just under 2 lengths from the winner. He said he had got caught up in the excitement of possibly winning his first race and also by the fact that the home straight was nearly 400m and much longer than other courses he had driven at. He also said Mr Muirhead’s submission of a $200 fine was fair.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has reviewed the head on film of the final 400m of the race and notes Mr Drake used his whip approximately 24-26 times with no perceptible pauses. We therefore believe the severity of breach of the rules is in the low-mid range. We also note Mr Drake finished in second place which he may not have done had he not hit his horse the number of times he did. Mr Drake is in his first season of driving and he has had 40 drives to date. This is his first breach of this Rule which he admitted at the earliest opportunity. The JCA Penalty Guidelines state a starting point of a $300 fine or a 6 drive suspension for a breach of this Rule but we have also reviewed penalties for similar recent breaches of this Rule by “first time offenders” to ensure we are consistent in determining the appropriate penalty. We believe 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: 60607d520a31a8dc873d97366d58f09e
informantnumber: A4225
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of the Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 13/01/2015
hearing_title: Kapiti Coast HRC 16 January 2015 - R 9
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 9, the “Kapiti Ten Pin Bowling F & M Mobile Pace” Information A4225 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead under Rule 869(2)(a). The Information stated “Junior Horseman A Drake used his whip excessively driving “Eyre Hostess” over the concluding stages”. Mr Drake, who was assisted during the hearing by Open Horseman Mr Z Butcher, signed the Information admitting the breach and confirmed he understood the Rule under which he was 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 Muirhead used the head-on film of the home straight to identify Mr Drake driving “Eyre Hostess” in the 2 wide position towards the rear of the field at the top of the home straight. He said Mr Drake angled his horse out to the centre of the track and then struck his horse approximately 24-26 times in the run to the line with no significant pauses. He said the Stewards had a policy that if a driver struck his horse between 16-20 times they would receive a warning which would be entered in their record but when the number of strikes exceeded 20 a charge was always laid.
Mr Butcher, on behalf of Mr Drake, did not disagree with Mr Muirhead’s submissions. He said he had spoken to Mr Drake prior to the hearing and had advised him that he had to more careful in the use of his whip in the future. He said Mr Drake readily accepted he had breached the 20 strike threshold and understood that, as a result, there were consequences.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead said this was Mr Drake’s first breach of this Rule and that he was in his first season of driving and had limited driving opportunities to date. He said Mr Drake had readily admitted the breach and whilst the JCA Guidelines state 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 Butcher said Mr Drake had made gradual progress during the run to the line and had ended up running second just under 2 lengths from the winner. He said he had got caught up in the excitement of possibly winning his first race and also by the fact that the home straight was nearly 400m and much longer than other courses he had driven at. He also said Mr Muirhead’s submission of a $200 fine was fair.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has reviewed the head on film of the final 400m of the race and notes Mr Drake used his whip approximately 24-26 times with no perceptible pauses. We therefore believe the severity of breach of the rules is in the low-mid range. We also note Mr Drake finished in second place which he may not have done had he not hit his horse the number of times he did. Mr Drake is in his first season of driving and he has had 40 drives to date. This is his first breach of this Rule which he admitted at the earliest opportunity. The JCA Penalty Guidelines state a starting point of a $300 fine or a 6 drive suspension for a breach of this Rule but we have also reviewed penalties for similar recent breaches of this Rule by “first time offenders” to ensure we are consistent in determining the appropriate penalty. We believe on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869 (2)(a)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr A Drake - Junior Horseman
Otherperson: Mr Z Butcher - Open Horseman assisting Mr Drake, Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 70e25f36a5fe50df27dd9d0d96d801d2
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R9
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 79f660f87073705ca0e2c8373f34472d
meet_expapproval: approved
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 16/01/2015
meet_title: Kapiti Coast HRC - 16 January 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km: [{"Comment": [], "MemberRole": "Chair ", "MemberID": "PWilliams", "Member": "", "OtherExpenses": "0", "KMs": "130", "Total": "80.6", "kmprice": 80.599999999999994, "Approved": "on"}]
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: kapiti-coast-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm2: none
name: Kapiti Coast HRC