Manawatu HRC 24 November 2016 – R2 – Chair, Mr P Williams
ID: JCA15865
Meet Title:
Manawatu HRC - 24 November 2016
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
TCastles
Race Date:
2016/11/24
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of Race 2, the “Outback Trading Mobile Pace”, Information A3788 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay alleging a breach of Rule 869 (4) by Junior Horseman Mr D Ferguson. The Information stated “that he (D Ferguson) drove TENNYSON INLET in a manner likely to cause interference to LYNTON CREEK (D Butcher) and DASHING DANE (S Abernethy) and caused his own horse to gallop”. Mr Ferguson, who was assisted during the hearing by Open Horseman Mr P Ferguson, signed the Information indicating he admitted the breach and confirmed this at the hearing and also that he understood the Rule under which he had been charged.
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 Mulcay, using the head on film of the horses racing down the back straight with approximately 1700m to run, identified Mr Ferguson driving “Tennyson Inlet” racing to the outside of Mr Butcher driving “Lynton Creek” both of whom were in front of a group of horses approximately 2-3 lengths behind the leading group of horses. He said at this point Mr Butcher moved his horse away from the marker line and in doing so moved Mr Ferguson out to a three wide position. Mr Ferguson then moved his horse inwards from the three wide position in an abrupt manner forcing Mr Butcher’s horse inwards. Mr Mulcay said that as Mr Butcher had moved outwards Mr Abernethy commenced to move up to the inside of Mr Butcher and when Mr Butcher was forced inwards by the movement of Mr Ferguson Mr Abernethy’s horse was tightened for racing room and checked. In addition Mr Mulcay said Mr Butcher’s horse had suffered inconvenience as a result of Mr Ferguson’s actions and Mr Ferguson’s horse had also paced roughly for a stride. Mr Mulcay said it was fortunate for all involved that the actions of Mr Ferguson in abruptly moving in did not have any significant consequences.
Mr P Ferguson said he agreed with Mr Mulcay’s interpretation of the films. He conceded the inwards movement by Mr D Ferguson was abrupt and also that Mr Butcher was unable to pull back because Mr Abernethy had moved up on his inside.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay said Mr Ferguson had breached this Rule once in the previous 12 months – at Cambridge on 5 May 2016. He said the JCA’s Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $300 fine or a 6 drives suspension. He said Mr Ferguson had admitted the breach and the consequences of his actions were not significant and submitted a reduction in the starting point penalty of a $300 fine was appropriate in this case.
Mr P Ferguson said he was aware of the starting point of $300 fine but submitted that, as Mr D Ferguson had not breached the Rule for over 6 months, had admitted the breach, was a Junior Horseman, had spent $230 on an air fare to drive at the meeting today where the stake money was not that great, a fine of less than $300 was appropriate.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has reviewed the films of incident and the submissions of all parties. The wording of the Information A3788 says Mr Ferguson “drove “Tennyson Inlet” in a manner likely to cause interference…….”. It is clear to us that in abruptly moving in on Mr Butcher from a three wide position Mr Ferguson’s actions did actually cause interference (albeit not significant) to both Mr Butcher and Mr Abernethy. We note that this was not disputed by either Mr D or Mr P Ferguson both of whom said that agreed with Mr Mulcay’s interpretation of the film of the incident. We also note that Mr Ferguson’s actions also caused his own horse to pace roughly for at least one stride.
The JCA’s Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $300 fine or a 6 drives suspension. The Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty. Given Mr Ferguson has not breached this Rule for over 6 months, his admittance of the breach and the severity of the breach being at the low end, the Committee is prepared to reduce the starting point fine by $50.
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: de5f196ba1ecf07b3be85672895d9fad
informantnumber: A3788
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Driving in manner likely to cause interference
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 24/11/2016
hearing_title: Manawatu HRC 24 November 2016 - R2 - Chair, Mr P Williams
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 2, the “Outback Trading Mobile Pace”, Information A3788 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Mulcay alleging a breach of Rule 869 (4) by Junior Horseman Mr D Ferguson. The Information stated “that he (D Ferguson) drove TENNYSON INLET in a manner likely to cause interference to LYNTON CREEK (D Butcher) and DASHING DANE (S Abernethy) and caused his own horse to gallop”. Mr Ferguson, who was assisted during the hearing by Open Horseman Mr P Ferguson, signed the Information indicating he admitted the breach and confirmed this at the hearing and also that he understood the Rule under which he had been charged.
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 Mulcay, using the head on film of the horses racing down the back straight with approximately 1700m to run, identified Mr Ferguson driving “Tennyson Inlet” racing to the outside of Mr Butcher driving “Lynton Creek” both of whom were in front of a group of horses approximately 2-3 lengths behind the leading group of horses. He said at this point Mr Butcher moved his horse away from the marker line and in doing so moved Mr Ferguson out to a three wide position. Mr Ferguson then moved his horse inwards from the three wide position in an abrupt manner forcing Mr Butcher’s horse inwards. Mr Mulcay said that as Mr Butcher had moved outwards Mr Abernethy commenced to move up to the inside of Mr Butcher and when Mr Butcher was forced inwards by the movement of Mr Ferguson Mr Abernethy’s horse was tightened for racing room and checked. In addition Mr Mulcay said Mr Butcher’s horse had suffered inconvenience as a result of Mr Ferguson’s actions and Mr Ferguson’s horse had also paced roughly for a stride. Mr Mulcay said it was fortunate for all involved that the actions of Mr Ferguson in abruptly moving in did not have any significant consequences.
Mr P Ferguson said he agreed with Mr Mulcay’s interpretation of the films. He conceded the inwards movement by Mr D Ferguson was abrupt and also that Mr Butcher was unable to pull back because Mr Abernethy had moved up on his inside.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay said Mr Ferguson had breached this Rule once in the previous 12 months – at Cambridge on 5 May 2016. He said the JCA’s Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $300 fine or a 6 drives suspension. He said Mr Ferguson had admitted the breach and the consequences of his actions were not significant and submitted a reduction in the starting point penalty of a $300 fine was appropriate in this case.
Mr P Ferguson said he was aware of the starting point of $300 fine but submitted that, as Mr D Ferguson had not breached the Rule for over 6 months, had admitted the breach, was a Junior Horseman, had spent $230 on an air fare to drive at the meeting today where the stake money was not that great, a fine of less than $300 was appropriate.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has reviewed the films of incident and the submissions of all parties. The wording of the Information A3788 says Mr Ferguson “drove “Tennyson Inlet” in a manner likely to cause interference…….”. It is clear to us that in abruptly moving in on Mr Butcher from a three wide position Mr Ferguson’s actions did actually cause interference (albeit not significant) to both Mr Butcher and Mr Abernethy. We note that this was not disputed by either Mr D or Mr P Ferguson both of whom said that agreed with Mr Mulcay’s interpretation of the film of the incident. We also note that Mr Ferguson’s actions also caused his own horse to pace roughly for at least one stride.
The JCA’s Guidelines state the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $300 fine or a 6 drives suspension. The Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty. Given Mr Ferguson has not breached this Rule for over 6 months, his admittance of the breach and the severity of the breach being at the low end, the Committee is prepared to reduce the starting point fine by $50.
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(4)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr D Ferguson - Junior Horseman
Otherperson: Mr P Ferguson - Open Horseman assisting Mr D Ferguson
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 882467d1b17385f0d1d443d7669ce1f6
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 8943e579307a04a2f282e6abf1d788ec
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 24/11/2016
meet_title: Manawatu HRC - 24 November 2016
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: manawatu-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: TCastles
meet_pm2: none
name: Manawatu HRC