Methven TC – 29 March 2009 – Race 10

hearingid: 7effbd3ea1d97b9eb947efee982253d4

informantnumber:

horsename:

hearing_racingtype: harness-racing

startdate: 29/03/2009

newcharge:

plea:

penaltyrequired:

decisiondate: no date provided

hearing_title: Methven TC - 29 March 2009 - Race 10

charge:

facts:

appealdecision:

isappeal:

submissionsfordecision:

reasonsfordecision:

Decision:

Following the running of Race 10, Ryal Bush Transport Pace, at the meeting of Methven Trotting Club at Mount Harding Raceway, Methven, on Sunday 29 March 2009 an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr N G McIntyre, against Licensed Open Horseman, Mr M G Heenan, alleging a breach of Rule 868 (2) in that, as the driver of BOLD JESTER in the Race, he “failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures over the last 180 metres to obtain the best possible position when not shifting to the available run on the inner”.

Following the running of Race 10, Ryal Bush Transport Pace, at the meeting of Methven Trotting Club at Mount Harding Raceway, Methven, on Sunday 29 March 2009 an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr N G McIntyre, against Licensed Open Horseman, Mr M G Heenan, alleging a breach of Rule 868 (2) in that, as the driver of BOLD JESTER in the Race, he “failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures over the last 180 metres to obtain the best possible position when not shifting to the available run on the inner”.

BOLD JESTER finished in 4th placing in the Race and the judge’s official margins were 1 length, a ½ head and a ½ head. BOLD JESTER was the 2nd favourite for the Race.

The information was filed with the Registrar on raceday and adjourned. The information was heard at the meeting of Banks Peninsula Trotting Club at Motukarara on Sunday, 5 April 2008.

Mr Heenan was present at the hearing of the information and did not admit the breach of the Rule.

Rule 868 provides as follows:
(2) Every horseman shall take all reasonable and permissible measures at all times during the race to ensure that his horse is given full opportunity to win the race or to obtain the best possible position and/or finishing place.

EVIDENCE FOR INFORMANT
Mr McIntyre stated that BOLD JESTER had drawn Barrier No. 6 at the standing start 2400 metres event. The horse had taken the lead with 1500 metres to run and had surrendered the lead to TIM KELLY, the favourite, with approximately 700 metres to run. Approaching the 180 metres a full gap appeared on the inside of the leader, TIM KELLY, and Mr Heenan failed to utilise the run for a distance of approximately 100 metres. Mr McIntyre alleged that Mr Heenan had failed to take the run at the first available opportunity. His tactics to stay on the leader’s back for as long as he did were unreasonable and showed bad judgment, therefore disadvantaging his horse and falling within the boundaries of the Rule. 

Mr McIntyre had Mr N M Ydgren show side-on and head-on video replays of the final 200-300 metres of the Race. He pointed out BOLD JESTER trailing the leader into the home straight. He stayed on the back of that leader before shifting to the inside with approximately 80 metres to run. Mr Heenan agreed that a gap was available from about the 180 metres. Mr McIntyre alleged that it was unreasonable to stay on the back of the leader and waiting for 100 metres before looking for a run on the inside. The official margins were 1 length, ½ head and ½ head. Mr McIntyre further alleged that, close to the post, BOLD JESTER was starting to take ground off the winner. The stewards were not alleging that BOLD JESTER would have beaten the winner but may well have finished 2nd or 3rd. Mr Heenan had disadvantaged his chances of finishing in a higher position.

EVIDENCE FOR DEFENDANT
Mr Heenan stated that BOLD JESTER has a tendency to run out. To keep him on a straight line, it is necessary to pull on the inside rein. The horse always fights its driver when the driver does this. This is a characteristic of the horse and he has not been able to change this. If the driver attempts to pull the horse to the inside, the horse will lose momentum – it cannot come to the inside as quickly as it can when pulled out. The horse will not race as kindly or as quickly when pulled to the inside.

The outside option is a better one for the horse, Mr Heenan said. In this case, the horse outside him, ZION, had worked quite hard to get there and Mr Heenan thought there was a good chance that it would stop, enabling him to push it out. The horse wears a pricker on the outside rein and, in its 21 starts, has not once taken the passing lane.

Mr Heenan stated that when he first tried to pull the horse to the fence earlier, the horse turned its head round and stayed put. When it eventually did move down, it continued to run out and failed to run on, Mr Heenan stated. He denied that it made any ground on the 2nd and 3rd horses. Even after it took the inside run, the horse continued to run out and was still well out from where it needed to be. Mr Heenan referred to the video replays.

Mr Heenan produced a letter from Licensed Open Horseman, Mr M W McKendry, who had driven BOLD JESTER on a previous occasion

Mr Heenan called Mr C J De Filippi to give evidence on his behalf. He stated that he had viewed videos of BOLD JESTER’s last four races. When it won at Oamaru (on 1 February 2009) it was in front turning for home and ran out two cart widths. In its start at Motukarara on 22 March 2008, Mr De Filippi said that he had noticed BOLD JESTER throwing its head in the air and racing “a wee bit unkindly” just before the home turn.

With reference to Mr Heenan’s drive on BOLD JESTER to which the charge related, Mr De Filippi said that, although it appeared that Mr Heenan had left it late to take the “passing lane” while waiting for a run on the outside, in his view it did not make any difference. When it did take the gap, BOLD JESTER did not make any ground. He said that BOLD JESTER  would not have made “a foot and a half” on the leader, the 2nd placed horse (ZION) was “about on a par” with it when it took the gap and the 3rd placed horse (JACK FROST) came from behind BOLD JESTER, Mr De Filippi said.

Mr De Filippi said that, before he took the “passing lane”, Mr Heenan could be seen to run the reins over the horse’s rump at least twice, indicating that the horse was “not going that good”. It could not be said that the horse was unlucky in any way, Mr De Filippi said. He also referred to the time for the race (3-03.6, Mile Rate 2-03.1) which was a good time for that class of horse (1 win) on a grass track and probably the fastest time the horse had run.

Mr De Filippi was shown the head-on video replay and he expressed the view that that BOLD JESTER tended to “run around a wee bit” and, also, that when the horse was pulled down it did not come right down into the gap. Mr De Filippi said that, if the gap had been taken 50 yards earlier, the horse would not have finished any closer – it made no ground in the run home.

Mr Heenan then made a number of submissions relating to the performance of BOLD JESTER in the Race:
1 It was “an extremely fast-run race” – 2400 metres in 3-03.6 from a standing start on the grass;
2. That was BOLD JESTER’s fastest ever mile rate, including performances on all-weather tracks;
3. When BOLD JESTER won at Oamaru, its mile rate was 2-07. The mile rate for the winner of the Methven race was 2-03;
4. BOLD JESTER had to work hard to take the lead;
5. BOLD JESTER was not travelling well enough for him to be pulled out earlier even though there was a gap for him to take earlier than he did;
6. Prior to the point at which he pulled BOLD JESTER down, he had been driving the horse with the reins and the whip and the horse was unable to stay on the back of the leader at that stage.
7. When pulled to the inside, BOLD JESTER actually lost ground – it made no ground on the 2nd horse and the 3rd horse ran past it. Mr Heenan acknowledged that he had made some ground on the winner, TIM KELLY.

Mr Heenan showed a video replay of BOLD JESTER’s winning run at the Oamaru meeting and one from the Hororata meeting at Addington on 27 February 2009 to illustrate his submission that BOLD JESTER tended to run out and get its head round in its races. He also showed a video of ALL TIGER running 2nd to MONKEY KING at Addington on 2 March 2008, but the Committee ruled that it was of no evidential value.

Mr Heenan produced letters from John Rollinson and Vivian Barnett, owners of BOLD JESTER, and also from Mr L F O’Reilly, who had driven in the Methven race. Mr O’Reilly said that BOLD JESTER drifted out from the inside running line before Mr Heenan was able to get it into the inside running line. It appeared to have every opportunity to win the race. Mr McIntyre did not object to the production of the letters.   

DECISION OF COMMITTEE
The thrust of the Stewards’ concerns, in this case, really can be distilled to this observation of the tactics that were adopted by Mr Heenan in the final 180 metres of the Race. It is not in dispute, Mr Heenan reasonably and fairly so conceded, that there was an opportunity which presented itself from about the 180 metres for BOLD JESTER horse to be pulled off the leader’s back where it was then running and to take an inside run. The head-on video replay clearly showed this.

It was certainly a permissible tactic to have been adopted. Viewed objectively, it would also have been reasonable for Mr Heenan to have endeavoured to steer BOLD JESTER down to try and achieve the best position in the field that was then offering to him there being no clear run available outside the leader. 

One of the reasons why such a tactic was not adopted, it was argued by Mr Heenan, is that BOLD JESTER has a tendency to run out. There was some evidence presented by Mr Heenan – the evidence of Mr C J De Filippi and video evidence by way of a number of videos of BOLD JESTER’s races – which supported the submission that such a tendency to run out pre-existed the race at Methven. A letter from Mr L F O’Reilly was also produced in which Mr O’Reilly stated that he observed BOLD JESTER drift out from the inside running line in the straight.

Mr Heenan also submitted, and it was supported by Mr De Filippi, that while BOLD JESTER did make some small ground on the winner when it was drawn to the inside, it made no ground on the 2nd horse, and the 3rd horse ran past it. Mr Heenan argued that BOLD JESTER was not travelling well enough to be pulled out earlier and he attributed this to the fast pace in the Race and the fact that BOLD JESTER had had to work hard to take the lead at the 1500 metres before taking a trail with approximately 700 metres to run. He thought that the best chance was for the horse to be held up for the last run.

Mr Heenan submitted that he had been driving the horse with the reins and the whip from the 180 metres but still had difficulty staying on the leader’s back. The video replay did bear this out.  Against that, the Stewards took the view that Mr Heenan, by not taking the inside run the moment it presented itself, made an error of judgement of sufficient gravity to breach the Rule.

It is the Committee’s view that, to invoke the Rule, circumstances or measures taken by Mr Heenan must make it obvious to any reasonably informed person watching the race that the horse has been denied the opportunity to win or obtain the best possible placing and, also, that Mr Heenan has seriously fallen short of a reasonable standard.

The Committee is not satisfied that Mr Heenan has so fallen short of a reasonable standard or that BOLD JESTER was denied the opportunity to obtain the best possible placing when looked at in the light of the following matters:

1. The tendency of BOLD JESTER to run out, which was quite apparent from the video replays;
2. That BOLD JESTER may not have been travelling well enough to have taken the inside gap any earlier than it did and, in this regard, it is relevant that the race was run in a fast time, that BOLD JESTER had not had an easy run and that Mr Heenan was seen to urge the horse to maintain its position prior to angling for the inside run. Further, the horse did not appear to race entirely truly when angled to the inside; and
3. There is some doubt and the Committee can not be satisfied, on the evidence before it, that BOLD JESTER would have obtained a better finishing position if it had been asked to take the inside run earlier than it was.

While the Committee considers that the matter justified the Stewards bringing the charge, we are not satisfied that the events resulted from the adoption by Mr Heenan of any tactics that could be classified as unreasonable.

The allegation is that, if BOLD JESTER had been angled for a run earlier, it would have been more likely than not that a better finishing position would have been achieved.

We think that BOLD JESTER had been under pressure prior to being taken to the inside by Mr Heenan and, when taken to the inside, showed a certain reluctance to go there. We are not satisfied that, in all of the circumstances, BOLD JESTER would have finished in a higher position if Mr Heenan had taken the inside run earlier.

In the Methven race, BOLD JESTER was having its 21st start. It is a 5-year-old which had won only one of its previous 20 starts so it is fair to deduce that it is a horse of only average ability. Its performance in the Methven race was, we believe, consistent with its ability.

Accordingly, we are not satisfied that Mr Heenan failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures in the final 180 metres of the Race to ensure that BOLD JESTER was given full opportunity to win the race or to obtain the best possible position and/or finishing place. Therefore the charge against Mr Heenan is dismissed.

R G McKenzie  J M Phelan

CHAIR               PANELLIST 

sumissionsforpenalty:

reasonsforpenalty:

penalty:

hearing_type: Old Hearing

Rules: 868.2

Informant:

JockeysandTrainer:

Otherperson:

PersonPresent:

Respondent:

StipendSteward:

raceid: c40d464da3a446bf57aade2fffe6293f

race_expapproval:

racecancelled: 0

race_noreport: 0

race_emailed1: 0

race_emailed2: 0

race_title: Race 10

submittochair:

race_expappcomment:

race_km:

race_otherexp:

race_chair:

race_pm1:

race_pm2:

meetid: 95fbf1c4e1f78846397725e5262dd310

meet_expapproval:

meet_noreport: 0

waitingforpublication: 0

meet_emailed1: 0

meet_emailed2: 0

meetdate: 29/03/2009

meet_title: Methven TC - 29 March 2009

meet_expappcomment:

meet_km:

meet_otherexp:

tracklocation: methven-tc

meet_racingtype: harness-racing

meet_chair:

meet_pm1:

meet_pm2:

name: Methven TC