NZ Metro TC 15 July 2011 – R 3
ID: JCA17854
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 15 July 2011
Meet Chair:
KHales
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2011/07/15
Race Number:
R3
Decision:
As Mr Cusdin has admitted the charge it is deemed to be proved.
Penalty:
Mr Cusdin is suspended from race driving from the conclusion of racing on Friday 15th July 2011 until the conclusion of racing on Suday 4th September 2011.
Charge:
It was alleged that Brett Cusdin (Junior Driver) failed to take the required action of a competent horseman by allowing "Blackjacky" to pace for the majority of the race, thereby failing in his obligation to take all reasonable steps necessary to return the horse to its proper gait. The Stewards deem the lack of action to be incompetent.
Facts:
Shortly after the start of Race 3, "Blackjacky" driven by the defendant broke from its gait and galloped for approximately 100 metres. Upon regaining control, "Blackjacky" resumed its run in a pacing gait instead of a trotting gait. It was agreed for the purposes of the hearing that the video coverage that had been viewed in the protest hearing could be taken as the appropriate evidence for this hearing, which video evidence was clear and not challenged by the defendant.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Ydgren submitted to the hearing that Mr Cusdin's driving could only be described as incompetent, as he failed to recognise that his horse was pacing, which should have been obvious to him that it was not trotting, having regard to his level of experience.
Mr Blair Orange, Licensed Horseman, assisting Mr Cusdin, agreed that it is reasonably easy to detect when a horse is pacing by its hip movement, and could not take issue with Mr Ydgren's view that the driving was incompetent. Mr Orange did say that in terms of being able to detect if a horse is pacing when it should be trotting, does vary to a certain degree between horses, and did say that sometimes, a driver cannot detect the gait quite as easily if the dust sheet is close up to the horse's hindquarters.
Reasons for Decision:
The evidence speaks for itself. "Blackjacky" paced for a distance of approximately 2200 metres in a 2600 metre race without Mr Cusdin detecting the problem.
Submissions for Penalty:
My Ydgren told the hearing that Mr Cusdin had 146 career drives, 52 of those drives being in the current season. He submitted that a suspension of between 6 and 8 weeks should be imposed. He said that having regard to the penalties imposed in the cases of Driver A and Driver P in the current season could be taken as useful guidelines in determining penalty. In the case of Driver A who is a Licensed Horseman, a penalty of 2 weeks suspension and a $1500 fine was imposed (on appeal). Driver P (Junior Horseman) was suspended for 7 weeks. Both drivers had allowed their horses to pace in a trotting race.
Mr Ydgren also submitted that the disqualification had a significant effect on the betting public and on the connections of the horse.
In response, Mr Orange acknowledged that a suspension as submitted by Mr Ydgren was fair.
Reasons for Penalty:
In considering penalty, we have had regard to a number of factors.
The aggravating factors in our opinion are:-
- Mr Cusdin's failure to recognise that the horse was pacing after he had settled the horse after its break into a gallop;
- The impact of the consequential disqualification of "Blackjacky" from the race, on the betting public and the connections of the horse;
- The distance that the horse ran in a pacing gait without Mr Cusdin recognising it was in a pacing gait, which was a breach of Mr Cusdin's obligations as a professional driver.
The mitigating features are:-
- Mr Cusdin's frank admission and obvious remorse which we accept as sincere;
- Mr Bagrie, the trainer of the horse telling us that the horse was trained as a pacer and that it had an inclination to revert to a pacing gait, which fact he had not told Mr Cusdin before the race;
- Mr Cusdin's comparative lack of experience.
We have given consideration to penalties which have been imposed of recent times, and we are able to take the penaties imposed against Licensed Horseman A on 13/02/11 and Junior Driver P on 07/06/11 as useful guidelines in this case. We have to say that in terms of the factual situations that the distance that Mr Cusdin drove his horse in a pacing gait far exceeded the distances driven in the Licensed Driver A (1,800 metres) and Junior Horseman P (1,000 metres). In this case we assess the distance driven by Mr Cusdin at 2,200 metres.
We therefore adopt as a starting point, for the imposition of penalty, a suspension of 2 months, after taking into account the aggravating factors that we have referred to above. But upon balancing the mitigating factors against our starting point, we find that we can settle on a suspension which will end at the conclusion of racing on Sunday 4th September 2011. That is a suspension of 7 weeks.
In setting penalty, we observe that had Mr Cusdin been a Licensed Driver with more experience, that the penalty imposed may well have been significantly greater.
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: f67bde1a546c191843f964e340a293f7
informantnumber: 69161
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 06/07/2011
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 15 July 2011 - R 3
charge:
It was alleged that Brett Cusdin (Junior Driver) failed to take the required action of a competent horseman by allowing "Blackjacky" to pace for the majority of the race, thereby failing in his obligation to take all reasonable steps necessary to return the horse to its proper gait. The Stewards deem the lack of action to be incompetent.
facts:
Shortly after the start of Race 3, "Blackjacky" driven by the defendant broke from its gait and galloped for approximately 100 metres. Upon regaining control, "Blackjacky" resumed its run in a pacing gait instead of a trotting gait. It was agreed for the purposes of the hearing that the video coverage that had been viewed in the protest hearing could be taken as the appropriate evidence for this hearing, which video evidence was clear and not challenged by the defendant.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Ydgren submitted to the hearing that Mr Cusdin's driving could only be described as incompetent, as he failed to recognise that his horse was pacing, which should have been obvious to him that it was not trotting, having regard to his level of experience.
Mr Blair Orange, Licensed Horseman, assisting Mr Cusdin, agreed that it is reasonably easy to detect when a horse is pacing by its hip movement, and could not take issue with Mr Ydgren's view that the driving was incompetent. Mr Orange did say that in terms of being able to detect if a horse is pacing when it should be trotting, does vary to a certain degree between horses, and did say that sometimes, a driver cannot detect the gait quite as easily if the dust sheet is close up to the horse's hindquarters.
reasonsfordecision:
The evidence speaks for itself. "Blackjacky" paced for a distance of approximately 2200 metres in a 2600 metre race without Mr Cusdin detecting the problem.
Decision:
As Mr Cusdin has admitted the charge it is deemed to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
My Ydgren told the hearing that Mr Cusdin had 146 career drives, 52 of those drives being in the current season. He submitted that a suspension of between 6 and 8 weeks should be imposed. He said that having regard to the penalties imposed in the cases of Driver A and Driver P in the current season could be taken as useful guidelines in determining penalty. In the case of Driver A who is a Licensed Horseman, a penalty of 2 weeks suspension and a $1500 fine was imposed (on appeal). Driver P (Junior Horseman) was suspended for 7 weeks. Both drivers had allowed their horses to pace in a trotting race.
Mr Ydgren also submitted that the disqualification had a significant effect on the betting public and on the connections of the horse.
In response, Mr Orange acknowledged that a suspension as submitted by Mr Ydgren was fair.
reasonsforpenalty:
In considering penalty, we have had regard to a number of factors.
The aggravating factors in our opinion are:-
- Mr Cusdin's failure to recognise that the horse was pacing after he had settled the horse after its break into a gallop;
- The impact of the consequential disqualification of "Blackjacky" from the race, on the betting public and the connections of the horse;
- The distance that the horse ran in a pacing gait without Mr Cusdin recognising it was in a pacing gait, which was a breach of Mr Cusdin's obligations as a professional driver.
The mitigating features are:-
- Mr Cusdin's frank admission and obvious remorse which we accept as sincere;
- Mr Bagrie, the trainer of the horse telling us that the horse was trained as a pacer and that it had an inclination to revert to a pacing gait, which fact he had not told Mr Cusdin before the race;
- Mr Cusdin's comparative lack of experience.
We have given consideration to penalties which have been imposed of recent times, and we are able to take the penaties imposed against Licensed Horseman A on 13/02/11 and Junior Driver P on 07/06/11 as useful guidelines in this case. We have to say that in terms of the factual situations that the distance that Mr Cusdin drove his horse in a pacing gait far exceeded the distances driven in the Licensed Driver A (1,800 metres) and Junior Horseman P (1,000 metres). In this case we assess the distance driven by Mr Cusdin at 2,200 metres.
We therefore adopt as a starting point, for the imposition of penalty, a suspension of 2 months, after taking into account the aggravating factors that we have referred to above. But upon balancing the mitigating factors against our starting point, we find that we can settle on a suspension which will end at the conclusion of racing on Sunday 4th September 2011. That is a suspension of 7 weeks.
In setting penalty, we observe that had Mr Cusdin been a Licensed Driver with more experience, that the penalty imposed may well have been significantly greater.
penalty:
Mr Cusdin is suspended from race driving from the conclusion of racing on Friday 15th July 2011 until the conclusion of racing on Suday 4th September 2011.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(3):-, No horseman in any race shall drive:-, (a) incompetently
Informant: N Ydgren - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: B Cusdin - Junior Driver
Otherperson: Mr B Orange - Licensed Driver (in support)
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 5713e3a3a3b625611603930d6bda7fef
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R3
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 841de7b078b8b8e0e2e405ea6dca6017
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 15/07/2011
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 15 July 2011
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nz-metro-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: KHales
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: NZ Metro TC