Nelson HRC 13 January 2019 – R 1 – Chair, Mr P Williams
ID: JCA16451
Meet Title:
Nelson HRC - 13 January 2019
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
TUtikere
Race Date:
2019/01/13
Race Number:
R1
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of Race 1, the “Houston Motors and NJ Business Services Mobile Pace”, Information A10832 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Renault against Junior Driver Mr D Keast alleging “you used your whip outside of clause (b) of the whip guidelines when driving “Midas Touch”.
Mr Keast signed the Information indicating he admitted the breach and confirmed at the beginning of the hearing that was correct. He also confirmed he understood the Rule under which he had been charged and the relevant portions of the Use of Whip Regulations and also that he did not require the assistance of a Senior Horseman during the hearing.
Rule 869 states:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
The “Use of the Whip Regulations” provide:
(b) No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of “backhanders” and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Using the available films from the 400m point Mr Renault highlighted Mr Keast driving “Midas Touch” racing in the lead. He said at that point the horse began to relinquish the lead and Mr Keast then used his whip 15 times describing 2 of the early strikes as “taps”. Mr Renault added that whilst the strikes were not necessarily that forceful he was using the whip in a downwards motion which the Stewards determine is a “striking motion” and was therefore in breach of the whip guidelines.
Mr Keast agreed with the total count of 15 strikes but asked the Committee to note that in his view the strikes were not forceful and some of the strikes were not on his horse.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Renault said Mr Keast had had 45 drives so far this season and 101 in the previous season. He said Mr Keast did not have a good record in relation to breaches of the whip guidelines having been fined $200 on 28 September 2018 and given a 4-day suspension on 3 November 2018 for excessive use of the whip. In addition, Mr Renault pointed out that Mr Keast had been fined $350 on the first day of this 2-day meeting for a breach of clause (c) of the guidelines relating to uninterrupted use of the whip. He said it was the submission of the Stewards that a period of suspension was an appropriate penalty and that it be for a period of 5 days.
Mr Keast asked the Committee to consider imposing a “combination penalty” of a suspension and a fine as he was keen to be able to drive on 27 January. He also said he averaged 2-3 drives per meeting.
Mr Renault said the Stewards opposed a “combination penalty” as any penalty had to be meaningful and act as a future deterrent to not only Mr Keast but all other drivers.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has reviewed the film of the final 400m of the Race. We believe Mr Keast used his whip in a striking motion 15 times some of which were not forceful. That number of strikes means we classify the severity of the breach in the mid-range. The Committee notes this is Mr Keast’s fourth breach of a whip guideline in 3.5 months and his second for this 2-day meeting and whilst one of those breaches relates to a different clause of the whip guidelines it is still part of the suite or family of whip breaches and as such we consider it to be an aggravating factor when determining the penalty to be imposed today.
The starting point penalty for today’s breach is a suspension of 4 days which the Committee considers to be mitigation inclusive. Taking into account all of the above we consider an uplift of 2 days from the starting point is an appropriate penalty on this occasion and therefore Mr Keast is suspended for 6 days. For completeness those days are:-
Timaru – 16/1/19
Blenheim – 18 and 20/1/19
Addington – 25/1/19
Banks Peninsula – 27/1/19
Addington – 1/2/19
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: b690bd1a61d72e86179a4327eb1deac0
informantnumber: A10832
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Cntravention of Whip Regulations
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 14/01/2019
hearing_title: Nelson HRC 13 January 2019 - R 1 - Chair, Mr P Williams
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 1, the “Houston Motors and NJ Business Services Mobile Pace”, Information A10832 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Renault against Junior Driver Mr D Keast alleging “you used your whip outside of clause (b) of the whip guidelines when driving “Midas Touch”.
Mr Keast signed the Information indicating he admitted the breach and confirmed at the beginning of the hearing that was correct. He also confirmed he understood the Rule under which he had been charged and the relevant portions of the Use of Whip Regulations and also that he did not require the assistance of a Senior Horseman during the hearing.
Rule 869 states:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
The “Use of the Whip Regulations” provide:
(b) No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than ten occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of “backhanders” and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky.
Using the available films from the 400m point Mr Renault highlighted Mr Keast driving “Midas Touch” racing in the lead. He said at that point the horse began to relinquish the lead and Mr Keast then used his whip 15 times describing 2 of the early strikes as “taps”. Mr Renault added that whilst the strikes were not necessarily that forceful he was using the whip in a downwards motion which the Stewards determine is a “striking motion” and was therefore in breach of the whip guidelines.
Mr Keast agreed with the total count of 15 strikes but asked the Committee to note that in his view the strikes were not forceful and some of the strikes were not on his horse.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Renault said Mr Keast had had 45 drives so far this season and 101 in the previous season. He said Mr Keast did not have a good record in relation to breaches of the whip guidelines having been fined $200 on 28 September 2018 and given a 4-day suspension on 3 November 2018 for excessive use of the whip. In addition, Mr Renault pointed out that Mr Keast had been fined $350 on the first day of this 2-day meeting for a breach of clause (c) of the guidelines relating to uninterrupted use of the whip. He said it was the submission of the Stewards that a period of suspension was an appropriate penalty and that it be for a period of 5 days.
Mr Keast asked the Committee to consider imposing a “combination penalty” of a suspension and a fine as he was keen to be able to drive on 27 January. He also said he averaged 2-3 drives per meeting.
Mr Renault said the Stewards opposed a “combination penalty” as any penalty had to be meaningful and act as a future deterrent to not only Mr Keast but all other drivers.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has reviewed the film of the final 400m of the Race. We believe Mr Keast used his whip in a striking motion 15 times some of which were not forceful. That number of strikes means we classify the severity of the breach in the mid-range. The Committee notes this is Mr Keast’s fourth breach of a whip guideline in 3.5 months and his second for this 2-day meeting and whilst one of those breaches relates to a different clause of the whip guidelines it is still part of the suite or family of whip breaches and as such we consider it to be an aggravating factor when determining the penalty to be imposed today.
The starting point penalty for today’s breach is a suspension of 4 days which the Committee considers to be mitigation inclusive. Taking into account all of the above we consider an uplift of 2 days from the starting point is an appropriate penalty on this occasion and therefore Mr Keast is suspended for 6 days. For completeness those days are:-
Timaru – 16/1/19
Blenheim – 18 and 20/1/19
Addington – 25/1/19
Banks Peninsula – 27/1/19
Addington – 1/2/19
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(b)
Informant: Mr S Renault - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr D Keast - Junior Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 358db63456ca63faf755080d1e09c842
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R1
submittochair:
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race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
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meetid: 312ef92c1881724c5eb1add0ff8bc89e
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meetdate: 13/01/2019
meet_title: Nelson HRC - 13 January 2019
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nelson-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: TUtikere
meet_pm2: none
name: Nelson HRC