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Morrinsville TC 12 January 2014 – R 7 (instigating a protest 2)

ID: JCA16378

Applicant:
Mr J M Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Mr J Stormont - Open Horseman representing the connections of GINGER BERTHA

Information Number:
A2515

Hearing Type:
Protest

Rules:
869(4)(8)

Meet Title:
Morrinsville TC - 12 January 2014

Meet Chair:
AGodsalve

Meet Committee Member 1:
ADooley

Race Date:
2014/01/12

Race Number:
R7

Decision:

Accordingly we uphold the protest and the amended placings are:

1st - No 11 Sodeska

2nd - No 10 Phoebe Revival

3rd - No 7 Trotupastorm

4th - No 12 Meyer Lansky

5th - No 4 Bert Munro

GINGER BERTHA was relegated to 10th place.

Stakes and dividends are to be paid accordingly.

Facts:

Following the running of Race 7, the Horse Power Engineering (2005) Ltd Handicap Trot, Mr Muirhead, Stipendiary Steward, lodged a protest alleging that GINGER BERTHA interfered with TOMMIRAY with approximately 250 metres of the race to run.

At an earlier protest into the same race GINGER BERTHA had been promoted from 2nd place to 1st place after the horse initially placed 1st by the Judge was disqualified.

The horse TOMMIRAY had been placed 9th after that protest.

Those amended placings were:

1st - No 1 Ginger Bertha

2nd - No 11 Sodeska

3rd - No 10 Phoebe Revival

4th - No 7 Trotupastorm

5th - No 12 Meyer Lansky

Rule 869(4) states:

"No horseman shall during any race do anything which interferes with or is likely to interfere with his own horse and/or any other horse or its progress".

Rule 869(8) states:

"The Judicial Committee may in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed pursuant to Rule 1003 thereof place any horse which:

(a) may have gained an advantage by any conduct or interference prohibited by any preceding provision of this Rule and/or

(b) may have interfered with, or whose horseman may have interfered with, the progress or chance of any other horse or horses- immediately after any horse from which it may have gained an advantage or whose chances or progress may have affected thereby.

Mr Stormont advised the Committee the Protest was contested and that he understood the nature of the Rule/s.

Submissions for Decision:

Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident on the available video films. He identified the horse GINGER BERTHA driven by Mr Stormont racing 3 deep near the running rail at about the 300 metre mark. TOMMIRAY driven by Mr P Butcher was on its outer. As Mr Stormont angled GINGER BERTHA out to improve its position the horses sulky wheel made contact with TOMMIRAY'S hind leg, causing that horse to go off-stride and lose any chance in the race. Mr Muirhead stated that it was the Stewards view that Mr Stormont had caused interference to TOMMIRAY in an attempt to obtain a clear run for his own horse.

Mr Butcher told the Committee that his horse TOMMIRAY had been 'clipped' by GINGER BERTHA as it went to improve past him and that the contact had caused his horse to go off-stride and into a gallop. He added that TOMMIRAY had an unusual gait in that it swung its off hind leg outwards as it trotted. He added that he thought Mr Stormont had been 'unlucky' and that his own horse TOMMIRAY was probably not going to figure in the finish anyway.

Mr Stormont agreed that he had moved out but added that it was not done in an 'abrupt' manner as he felt he was entitled to to improve his horse at that stage of the finish.He added that GINGER BERTHA was travelling better than TOMMIRAY at the time but conceded TOMMIRAY'S leg had 'nicked' his sulky wheel.

Mr Muirhead summed up by stating that contact had been made and that Mr Stormont was duty bound to make any movement with care.

Reasons for Decision:

The Committee independently assessed the incident and took the parties' submissions into account. We viewed the available films of the incident several times for clarification. We are of the view that GINGER BERTHA did make contact with TOMMIRAY at about the 250 metre mark, causing that horse to go into a break and lose any chance it had. GINGER BERTHA was therefore in breach of Rule 869(4) and liable to the consequences of Rule 869 (8).

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: ab6336d7f59ee7ea9aecb94755697c66


informantnumber: A2515


horsename: GINGER BERTHA


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge:


plea:


penaltyrequired:


decisiondate: 06/01/2014


hearing_title: Morrinsville TC 12 January 2014 - R 7 (instigating a protest 2)


charge:


facts:

Following the running of Race 7, the Horse Power Engineering (2005) Ltd Handicap Trot, Mr Muirhead, Stipendiary Steward, lodged a protest alleging that GINGER BERTHA interfered with TOMMIRAY with approximately 250 metres of the race to run.

At an earlier protest into the same race GINGER BERTHA had been promoted from 2nd place to 1st place after the horse initially placed 1st by the Judge was disqualified.

The horse TOMMIRAY had been placed 9th after that protest.

Those amended placings were:

1st - No 1 Ginger Bertha

2nd - No 11 Sodeska

3rd - No 10 Phoebe Revival

4th - No 7 Trotupastorm

5th - No 12 Meyer Lansky

Rule 869(4) states:

"No horseman shall during any race do anything which interferes with or is likely to interfere with his own horse and/or any other horse or its progress".

Rule 869(8) states:

"The Judicial Committee may in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed pursuant to Rule 1003 thereof place any horse which:

(a) may have gained an advantage by any conduct or interference prohibited by any preceding provision of this Rule and/or

(b) may have interfered with, or whose horseman may have interfered with, the progress or chance of any other horse or horses- immediately after any horse from which it may have gained an advantage or whose chances or progress may have affected thereby.

Mr Stormont advised the Committee the Protest was contested and that he understood the nature of the Rule/s.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:

Mr Muirhead demonstrated the incident on the available video films. He identified the horse GINGER BERTHA driven by Mr Stormont racing 3 deep near the running rail at about the 300 metre mark. TOMMIRAY driven by Mr P Butcher was on its outer. As Mr Stormont angled GINGER BERTHA out to improve its position the horses sulky wheel made contact with TOMMIRAY'S hind leg, causing that horse to go off-stride and lose any chance in the race. Mr Muirhead stated that it was the Stewards view that Mr Stormont had caused interference to TOMMIRAY in an attempt to obtain a clear run for his own horse.

Mr Butcher told the Committee that his horse TOMMIRAY had been 'clipped' by GINGER BERTHA as it went to improve past him and that the contact had caused his horse to go off-stride and into a gallop. He added that TOMMIRAY had an unusual gait in that it swung its off hind leg outwards as it trotted. He added that he thought Mr Stormont had been 'unlucky' and that his own horse TOMMIRAY was probably not going to figure in the finish anyway.

Mr Stormont agreed that he had moved out but added that it was not done in an 'abrupt' manner as he felt he was entitled to to improve his horse at that stage of the finish.He added that GINGER BERTHA was travelling better than TOMMIRAY at the time but conceded TOMMIRAY'S leg had 'nicked' his sulky wheel.

Mr Muirhead summed up by stating that contact had been made and that Mr Stormont was duty bound to make any movement with care.


reasonsfordecision:

The Committee independently assessed the incident and took the parties' submissions into account. We viewed the available films of the incident several times for clarification. We are of the view that GINGER BERTHA did make contact with TOMMIRAY at about the 250 metre mark, causing that horse to go into a break and lose any chance it had. GINGER BERTHA was therefore in breach of Rule 869(4) and liable to the consequences of Rule 869 (8).


Decision:

Accordingly we uphold the protest and the amended placings are:

1st - No 11 Sodeska

2nd - No 10 Phoebe Revival

3rd - No 7 Trotupastorm

4th - No 12 Meyer Lansky

5th - No 4 Bert Munro

GINGER BERTHA was relegated to 10th place.

Stakes and dividends are to be paid accordingly.


sumissionsforpenalty:


reasonsforpenalty:


penalty:


hearing_type: Protest


Rules: 869(4)(8)


Informant: Mr J M Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer:


Otherperson:


PersonPresent: Mr P Butcher - Open Horseman driver of TOMMIRAY


Respondent: Mr J Stormont - Open Horseman representing the connections of GINGER BERTHA


StipendSteward:


raceid: 57bfd7c15e6498ee65bf1aca5f415ff5


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R7


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: eff82cb8b3a0489a35bcc347fde772f8


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 12/01/2014


meet_title: Morrinsville TC - 12 January 2014


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: morrinsville-tc


meet_racingtype: harness-racing


meet_chair: AGodsalve


meet_pm1: ADooley


meet_pm2: none


name: Morrinsville TC