Manawatu HRC 26 November 2015 – R 1 – Chair, Mr T Utikere
ID: JCA17014
Meet Title:
Manawatu HRC - 26 November 2015
Meet Chair:
TUtikere
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2015/11/26
Race Number:
Race 1
Decision:
As the charge was admitted, the committee found the charge proved.
Penalty:
Mr Dickson was fined $150.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 1 (Scott & Lydia Dickson Racing Stables Handicap Trot 2500m), Information A6510 was filed with the judicial committee. It alleged a breach of Rule 869(4), specifically: “By driving in a manner which was likely to interfere with his own horse when contacting the off-side sulky wheel of IMNOTQUITESURE (P Ferguson) near the 2000 metres.”
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”.
Mr Dickson confirmed he understood the rule and that he admitted the breach.
Submissions for Decision:
Using the available films Mr Jones identified EYE WISH (S Dickson), with Mr Ferguson’s horse positioned immediately in front of him as the field approached the 2000 metres. Mr Dickson commences to shift ground outwards off Mr Ferguson’s back, and in doing so EYE WISH moved to the outside of IMNOTQUITESURE and made contact with its sulky wheel. At that stage it threw Mr Dickson’s horse off balance causing it to break momentarily and also requires BIM BOM BAY, which was racing to Mr Dickson’s outside to take some evasive action.
Mr Dickson made three points in relation to the incident. Firstly, he indicated that the head-on film showed that his horse’s mouth was wide open and was pulling hard. He was therefore required to get the horse out of there so that he did not cause more interference to other horses due to its over-racing. Secondly, that he had not interfered with the race, nor punctured Mr Ferguson’s wheel; and finally that he owned the horse, so there was no loss to other connections as a result.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Jones referred to the JCA Penalty Guidelines, identifying the specific starting point for hitting a wheel as a four (4) drives suspension or $200 fine. In presenting Mr Dickson’s record, it was indicated he had a clear record under this rule for the previous 12 month period.
Mr Dickson re-iterated his view that it was clear that his horse was pulling during this stage of the race. He believed he adopted the most appropriate action in this circumstance. If he remained where he was, he contended this would have caused significantly more interference to other runners. He used EYE WISH’s last start at Cambridge to indicate that this incident was a result of the horse’s racing manners, as it had raced three wide to get to the front at its last start. He asked the committee to consider that he had admitted the breach, saying that this breach was very clear on the films. He also invited the committee to give favourable consideration to imposing a fine as the penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
In making a decision on penalty, the committee considered all of the submission placed before it. The JCA Penalty Guidelines suggest a four (4) drives suspension or a $200 fine as a starting point for a breach of this rule. The committee considered a monetary penalty as appropriate and noted that there were mitigating factors to move downwards from that starting point. The committee accepts that the racing manners of the horse were the prime motivator for Mr Dickson to take the action that he did. In doing so, he made contact with Mr Ferguson’s sulky, but that appeared inevitable in these circumstances. This, coupled with Mr Dickson’s early admission of the breach and his clear record under this rule were applied in mitigation. The committee noted previous penalties imposed for similar breaches, and determined that there were a number of factors that would mitigate the fine from the adopted starting point.
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: c12dd7019c5a67f7f20fd76a8d251e87
informantnumber: A6510
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Driving in a manner likely to cause interference
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 27/11/2015
hearing_title: Manawatu HRC 26 November 2015 - R 1 - Chair, Mr T Utikere
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 1 (Scott & Lydia Dickson Racing Stables Handicap Trot 2500m), Information A6510 was filed with the judicial committee. It alleged a breach of Rule 869(4), specifically: “By driving in a manner which was likely to interfere with his own horse when contacting the off-side sulky wheel of IMNOTQUITESURE (P Ferguson) near the 2000 metres.”
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”.
Mr Dickson confirmed he understood the rule and that he admitted the breach.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Using the available films Mr Jones identified EYE WISH (S Dickson), with Mr Ferguson’s horse positioned immediately in front of him as the field approached the 2000 metres. Mr Dickson commences to shift ground outwards off Mr Ferguson’s back, and in doing so EYE WISH moved to the outside of IMNOTQUITESURE and made contact with its sulky wheel. At that stage it threw Mr Dickson’s horse off balance causing it to break momentarily and also requires BIM BOM BAY, which was racing to Mr Dickson’s outside to take some evasive action.
Mr Dickson made three points in relation to the incident. Firstly, he indicated that the head-on film showed that his horse’s mouth was wide open and was pulling hard. He was therefore required to get the horse out of there so that he did not cause more interference to other horses due to its over-racing. Secondly, that he had not interfered with the race, nor punctured Mr Ferguson’s wheel; and finally that he owned the horse, so there was no loss to other connections as a result.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As the charge was admitted, the committee found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Jones referred to the JCA Penalty Guidelines, identifying the specific starting point for hitting a wheel as a four (4) drives suspension or $200 fine. In presenting Mr Dickson’s record, it was indicated he had a clear record under this rule for the previous 12 month period.
Mr Dickson re-iterated his view that it was clear that his horse was pulling during this stage of the race. He believed he adopted the most appropriate action in this circumstance. If he remained where he was, he contended this would have caused significantly more interference to other runners. He used EYE WISH’s last start at Cambridge to indicate that this incident was a result of the horse’s racing manners, as it had raced three wide to get to the front at its last start. He asked the committee to consider that he had admitted the breach, saying that this breach was very clear on the films. He also invited the committee to give favourable consideration to imposing a fine as the penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
In making a decision on penalty, the committee considered all of the submission placed before it. The JCA Penalty Guidelines suggest a four (4) drives suspension or a $200 fine as a starting point for a breach of this rule. The committee considered a monetary penalty as appropriate and noted that there were mitigating factors to move downwards from that starting point. The committee accepts that the racing manners of the horse were the prime motivator for Mr Dickson to take the action that he did. In doing so, he made contact with Mr Ferguson’s sulky, but that appeared inevitable in these circumstances. This, coupled with Mr Dickson’s early admission of the breach and his clear record under this rule were applied in mitigation. The committee noted previous penalties imposed for similar breaches, and determined that there were a number of factors that would mitigate the fine from the adopted starting point.
penalty:
Mr Dickson was fined $150.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(4)
Informant: Mr B Jones - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Dickson - Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 98153ae69d79dd21382f3402cc76e735
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: Race 1
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 3510e2635b97546b3c8cf53d00070d75
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 26/11/2015
meet_title: Manawatu HRC - 26 November 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: manawatu-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: TUtikere
meet_pm1: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm2: none
name: Manawatu HRC