NZ Metro TC 15 February 2019 – R 4 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA16837
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 15 February 2019
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
DAnderson
Race Date:
2019/02/15
Race Number:
R4
Decision:
The charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr McNally’s Open Driver’s licence is suspended from after the close of racing on 22 February 2019 up to and including 7 March 2019 – 6 days. The days intended to be encompassed by that period of suspension are Ashburton TC on 23 February, Waikouaiti TC on 24 and 26 February 2019, NZ Metropolitan TC on 1 March, Cheviot HRC or Invercargill HRC on 3 March and Forbury Park TC on 7 March 2019.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 4, PGG Wrightson Sires Stakes “Harness 7000” Mobile Pace (Listed Race), an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr N M Ydgren, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr S R McNally, alleging a breach of Rule 869 (3) (b) in that Mr McNally, as the driver of ULTIMATE ROCKER in the race, “drove carelessly when shifting ground outwards near the 700 metres checking SHECANDANCE (G D Smith) which broke”.
Mr McNally was present at the hearing of the information and he indicated that he denied the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(3) No horseman in any race shall drive:-
(b) carelessly.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Ydgren referred to the video replay and pointed out ULTIMATE ROCKER, driven by Mr McNally, racing midfield in the 2-wide line. SHECANDANCE, driven by Mr Smith, was racing in second-to last position by virtue of the 3-wide line improving. Mr Smith, shortly thereafter, shifted to a 3-wide position and urged his horse to follow CAST NO SHADOW (B N Orange). SHECANDANCE, which had been racing “lethargically” but was responding to Mr Smith’s urgings and the activation of the removable deafeners, improved quite rapidly behind CAST NO SHADOW, Mr Ydgren said.
Approaching the 700 metres, Mr McNally shifted his horse outwards in a manner, Stewards were alleging, that was not acceptable. Mr Smith’s horse was contacted and checked and broke. Mr Ydgren pointed this out on video replays, including the head-on (back straight) view. Mr McNally had been covered by CAST NO SHADOW which was improving 3-wide. When Mr Orange went forward, it was in order for Mr McNally to commence his shift outwards. However, by the time Mr McNally was entitled to commence his shift, Mr Ydgren submitted, he had already shifted into a position between the 2-wide and 3-wide lines and caused the interference to Mr Smith. Mr Smith, who was driving his horse vigorously, had no time to react to Mr McNally’s shift, he said.
Mr Ydgren then referred to the Shifting Ground Regulation (effective from 11 November 2018):
For the avoidance of doubt, the following shall apply:
The onus shall be on the driver shifting ground to ensure the move is made with safety and does not cause interference by conducting it in a gradual and acceptable manner thereby enabling the driver of the runner being moved to be able to take the necessary action to accommodate the manoeuvre.
This is exactly what Mr McNally has not done, Mr Ydgren submitted. The situation has been made worse by the fact that Mr McNally and Mr Smith were not wheel-to-wheel. Mr McNally’s wheel was in line with Mr Smith’s horse’s back legs – had they been wheel-to-wheel, he may have been able to apply pressure and ease Mr Smith out. However, Mr McNally was in quite a dangerous position to be shifting out that abruptly, Mr Ydgren said.
Mr McNally put it to Mr Ydgren that he did have an advantage and made a gradual movement. With Mr Smith driving his horse vigorously, he was still unable to hold his position in the 3-wide line meaning that he, Mr McNally, was entitled to come out. Mr Smith had been driving his horse which had resulted in contact.
Mr Smith was referred to the video replays. He said that his horse had been very lazy and he had got into the 3-wide line. Initially, the filly did not respond so he activated the sliding blinds and urged her with the whip. He did not wish to get pushed 4-wide so he pulled the hood as well. By the time he had seen Mr McNally shifting out, he said, it was a bit late to respond. He anticipated that he may be pushed out by someone because his filly was not quite keeping up. When asked by the Committee whether he considered Mr McNally’s move to be gradual, Mr Smith hesitated and then said “somewhere in the middle”. He had not been watching Mr McNally when Mr McNally first came out. When he did see Mr McNally, he had a hand off the rein. He had “stoked” his horse up and she was beginning to take up the leeway quite quickly.
Mr McNally said that when he was in a position to move out, when Mr Orange was clear, he already had his horse’s head turned outwards to make a move. Prior to that, he had been unable to. Mr McNally suggested that Mr Orange was racing a half cart wider than 3-wide which enabled him to have more room and time to ease out.
Mr Smith said that Mr McNally had not come out “super-fast” but fast enough to ensure that he got out. He added that he was accelerating fast which made Mr McNally’s window smaller.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee heard a lot of evidence and viewed the side-on and head-on video replays repeatedly.
At the end of the day, as far as the Committee was concerned, what happened was clearly established and quite graphically demonstrated by the video replays. Mr McNally had been looking to improve out into the rapidly-improving 3-wide line. He judged that Mr Orange had gone past and that he was, therefore, able to ease Mr Smith out 4-wide and get onto Mr Orange’s back in the 3-wide line. However, SHECANDANCE was improving quickly, being urged along by Mr Smith to maintain a position on Mr Orange’s back.
Mr McNally appeared, for a brief moment, to be in a position to ease Mr Smith out but Mr Smith was improving rapidly. In the end, we are satisfied that Mr McNally’s move was, quite clearly, not conducted “with safety” or “in a gradual and acceptable manner”, as required by the Regulation. In fact, on the contrary, we find that it was done abruptly and certainly not with safety. It is relevant that the contact was heavy contact made with the back legs of SHECANDANCE. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Mr McNally has “barged” out into the 3-wide line causing the interference to that runner. So sudden and abrupt was Mr McNally’s move, that Mr Smith had no time to take evasive action.
The Committee is clearly satisfied that Mr McNally has driven carelessly.
Mr Smith, we were told, was giving evidence on behalf of both parties to assist the Committee. We would like to record that, in reaching the finding that Mr McNally drove carelessly, we found Mr Smith’s evidence to be somewhat unsatisfactory. The Committee was unconvinced by much of his evidence and we took it into account only to a limited extent. In the end, the video evidence was the decisive factor.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Ydgren informed the Committee that Mr McNally has two recent breaches of the careless driving Rule – at Gore on 9 February, 4 days commencing tomorrow up to and including 22 February next and, prior to that, on 5 January (35 drives ago) at Timaru, 3 days for shifting ground and causing interference.
The race in question was a “major race” (a race with stakes of $40,000 or more) as defined in the Penalty Guide. The penalty starting point is a 3-day suspension. It is also Mr McNally’s third breach within 6 months.
Stewards were submitting that, from after 22 February, Mr McNally should receive a further suspension of his licence for 6 meetings, Mr Ydgren said.
Mr McNally declined the opportunity to make any submissions in relation to penalty.
The hearing then considered meetings at which Mr McNally would have been likely to drive after 22 February.
Reasons for Penalty:
In deciding what was an appropriate for this breach, the Committee began with the Penalty Guide starting point for careless driving in a major race of a 3-day suspension. There were two significant aggravating factors to be considered - Mr McNally’s recent bad record and that SHECANDANCE had her chances in the race extinguished at the 700 metres. We note that it finished in 9th placing in the 11-horse field, 18 lengths from the winner.
We considered that a combination of those factors warranted an uplift to 6 days on this occasion. There were no mitigating factors to be considered.
JCA Decision Fields (raw)
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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: a89db15135b403c15e5525a6ff2be802
informantnumber: A12426
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 20/02/2019
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 15 February 2019 - R 4 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 4, PGG Wrightson Sires Stakes “Harness 7000” Mobile Pace (Listed Race), an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr N M Ydgren, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr S R McNally, alleging a breach of Rule 869 (3) (b) in that Mr McNally, as the driver of ULTIMATE ROCKER in the race, “drove carelessly when shifting ground outwards near the 700 metres checking SHECANDANCE (G D Smith) which broke”.
Mr McNally was present at the hearing of the information and he indicated that he denied the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(3) No horseman in any race shall drive:-
(b) carelessly.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Ydgren referred to the video replay and pointed out ULTIMATE ROCKER, driven by Mr McNally, racing midfield in the 2-wide line. SHECANDANCE, driven by Mr Smith, was racing in second-to last position by virtue of the 3-wide line improving. Mr Smith, shortly thereafter, shifted to a 3-wide position and urged his horse to follow CAST NO SHADOW (B N Orange). SHECANDANCE, which had been racing “lethargically” but was responding to Mr Smith’s urgings and the activation of the removable deafeners, improved quite rapidly behind CAST NO SHADOW, Mr Ydgren said.
Approaching the 700 metres, Mr McNally shifted his horse outwards in a manner, Stewards were alleging, that was not acceptable. Mr Smith’s horse was contacted and checked and broke. Mr Ydgren pointed this out on video replays, including the head-on (back straight) view. Mr McNally had been covered by CAST NO SHADOW which was improving 3-wide. When Mr Orange went forward, it was in order for Mr McNally to commence his shift outwards. However, by the time Mr McNally was entitled to commence his shift, Mr Ydgren submitted, he had already shifted into a position between the 2-wide and 3-wide lines and caused the interference to Mr Smith. Mr Smith, who was driving his horse vigorously, had no time to react to Mr McNally’s shift, he said.
Mr Ydgren then referred to the Shifting Ground Regulation (effective from 11 November 2018):
For the avoidance of doubt, the following shall apply:
The onus shall be on the driver shifting ground to ensure the move is made with safety and does not cause interference by conducting it in a gradual and acceptable manner thereby enabling the driver of the runner being moved to be able to take the necessary action to accommodate the manoeuvre.
This is exactly what Mr McNally has not done, Mr Ydgren submitted. The situation has been made worse by the fact that Mr McNally and Mr Smith were not wheel-to-wheel. Mr McNally’s wheel was in line with Mr Smith’s horse’s back legs – had they been wheel-to-wheel, he may have been able to apply pressure and ease Mr Smith out. However, Mr McNally was in quite a dangerous position to be shifting out that abruptly, Mr Ydgren said.
Mr McNally put it to Mr Ydgren that he did have an advantage and made a gradual movement. With Mr Smith driving his horse vigorously, he was still unable to hold his position in the 3-wide line meaning that he, Mr McNally, was entitled to come out. Mr Smith had been driving his horse which had resulted in contact.
Mr Smith was referred to the video replays. He said that his horse had been very lazy and he had got into the 3-wide line. Initially, the filly did not respond so he activated the sliding blinds and urged her with the whip. He did not wish to get pushed 4-wide so he pulled the hood as well. By the time he had seen Mr McNally shifting out, he said, it was a bit late to respond. He anticipated that he may be pushed out by someone because his filly was not quite keeping up. When asked by the Committee whether he considered Mr McNally’s move to be gradual, Mr Smith hesitated and then said “somewhere in the middle”. He had not been watching Mr McNally when Mr McNally first came out. When he did see Mr McNally, he had a hand off the rein. He had “stoked” his horse up and she was beginning to take up the leeway quite quickly.
Mr McNally said that when he was in a position to move out, when Mr Orange was clear, he already had his horse’s head turned outwards to make a move. Prior to that, he had been unable to. Mr McNally suggested that Mr Orange was racing a half cart wider than 3-wide which enabled him to have more room and time to ease out.
Mr Smith said that Mr McNally had not come out “super-fast” but fast enough to ensure that he got out. He added that he was accelerating fast which made Mr McNally’s window smaller.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee heard a lot of evidence and viewed the side-on and head-on video replays repeatedly.
At the end of the day, as far as the Committee was concerned, what happened was clearly established and quite graphically demonstrated by the video replays. Mr McNally had been looking to improve out into the rapidly-improving 3-wide line. He judged that Mr Orange had gone past and that he was, therefore, able to ease Mr Smith out 4-wide and get onto Mr Orange’s back in the 3-wide line. However, SHECANDANCE was improving quickly, being urged along by Mr Smith to maintain a position on Mr Orange’s back.
Mr McNally appeared, for a brief moment, to be in a position to ease Mr Smith out but Mr Smith was improving rapidly. In the end, we are satisfied that Mr McNally’s move was, quite clearly, not conducted “with safety” or “in a gradual and acceptable manner”, as required by the Regulation. In fact, on the contrary, we find that it was done abruptly and certainly not with safety. It is relevant that the contact was heavy contact made with the back legs of SHECANDANCE. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Mr McNally has “barged” out into the 3-wide line causing the interference to that runner. So sudden and abrupt was Mr McNally’s move, that Mr Smith had no time to take evasive action.
The Committee is clearly satisfied that Mr McNally has driven carelessly.
Mr Smith, we were told, was giving evidence on behalf of both parties to assist the Committee. We would like to record that, in reaching the finding that Mr McNally drove carelessly, we found Mr Smith’s evidence to be somewhat unsatisfactory. The Committee was unconvinced by much of his evidence and we took it into account only to a limited extent. In the end, the video evidence was the decisive factor.
Decision:
The charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Ydgren informed the Committee that Mr McNally has two recent breaches of the careless driving Rule – at Gore on 9 February, 4 days commencing tomorrow up to and including 22 February next and, prior to that, on 5 January (35 drives ago) at Timaru, 3 days for shifting ground and causing interference.
The race in question was a “major race” (a race with stakes of $40,000 or more) as defined in the Penalty Guide. The penalty starting point is a 3-day suspension. It is also Mr McNally’s third breach within 6 months.
Stewards were submitting that, from after 22 February, Mr McNally should receive a further suspension of his licence for 6 meetings, Mr Ydgren said.
Mr McNally declined the opportunity to make any submissions in relation to penalty.
The hearing then considered meetings at which Mr McNally would have been likely to drive after 22 February.
reasonsforpenalty:
In deciding what was an appropriate for this breach, the Committee began with the Penalty Guide starting point for careless driving in a major race of a 3-day suspension. There were two significant aggravating factors to be considered - Mr McNally’s recent bad record and that SHECANDANCE had her chances in the race extinguished at the 700 metres. We note that it finished in 9th placing in the 11-horse field, 18 lengths from the winner.
We considered that a combination of those factors warranted an uplift to 6 days on this occasion. There were no mitigating factors to be considered.
penalty:
Mr McNally’s Open Driver’s licence is suspended from after the close of racing on 22 February 2019 up to and including 7 March 2019 – 6 days. The days intended to be encompassed by that period of suspension are Ashburton TC on 23 February, Waikouaiti TC on 24 and 26 February 2019, NZ Metropolitan TC on 1 March, Cheviot HRC or Invercargill HRC on 3 March and Forbury Park TC on 7 March 2019.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: N M Ydgren, Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: S R McNally, Licensed Open Driver
Otherperson: G D Smith, Licensed Open Driver
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
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meetdate: 15/02/2019
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 15 February 2019
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