NZ Metro TC 22 March 2019 – R 5 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA18140
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 22 March 2019
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
DAnderson
Race Date:
2019/03/22
Race Number:
R 5
Decision:
The charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Williamson is fined the sum of $400.
Facts:
Championship (Group 3), an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Open Horseman, Mr B M Williamson, alleging that Mr Williamson, as the driver of MAJESTIC MAN in the race, “for some distance passing the 1100 metres and again soon afterwards he allowed his horse to trail a sulky wheel”.
Mr Williamson had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that he did not admit the breach. He was present at the hearing of the information and he confirmed that he denied the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(5) A horseman shall trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of the sulky being trailed.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Renault showed a video replay of part of the race as the field passed the 1100 metres. MAJESTIC MAN, driven by Mr Williamson, was racing in “indian file” in 3rd position, a gap behind the horse in front of him, VALLORIA (T M Williams). At the same time, WINTERFELL (M Purdon) was improving without cover around SUNDEES SON (J R Dunn) and THEODOSIA (C A Butt), both of those runners racing on the markers.
Mr Renault said the Stewards were alleging that Mr Williamson had trailed the sulky wheel of VALLORIA for some distance around the bend and, again, in the back straight. As Mr Purdon improved at the 1000 metres, the sulky wheel of THEODOSIA, in 4th position, was on the marker line and Mr Williamson was “half out” and trailing the sulky wheel of VALLORIA. This inconvenienced Mr Purdon who was attempting to improve, Mr Renault submitted.
Mr Renault then showed a head-on video replay as the field entered the back straight approaching the 800 metres. He pointed out the runners and submitted that Mr Williamson was “half carting”. Mr Williamson then briefly got on to the back of VALLORIA but, shortly thereafter, he again shifted out onto the wheel of VALLORIA, Mr Renault said.
The allegation of the Stewards was that, from the 1100 metres, Mr Williamson had shifted out onto the wheel of Mr Williams and had remained there. He was not trailing the sulky seat, otherwise he would have been in the same position as THEODOSIA. In the back straight, it was quite evident that Mr Williamson was on the wheel – “not completely out, and not completely in”, Mr Renault submitted. This is half carting, Mr Renault said.
Mr Williamson asked Mr Renault whether he believed that the leader, ONE OVER DA STARS (R T May) was racing against the markers in the back straight. Mr Renault agreed that it was some distance away from the markers, one-off, he said. Mr Williamson put it to Mr Renault that he had been racing in the one-out line, in line with the leader. Mr Williams had been racing on the inside wheel of the leader until the leader broke (at about the 750 metres), Mr Williamson said. Mr Renault agreed. Mr Williamson said that his horse was running out slightly, like the leader. It wore a Murphy Blind on the inside, he said, and was running away from it slightly in the straight. There were a number of other runners racing on the wheel because of the running line established by the leader, Mr Williamson said.
Mr Williamson said that racing into the bend on the first occasion, his horse had run inside a couple of marker pegs so, on the next occasion, he gave himself some extra room by racing wider of the markers.
Mr Purdon said that he had been following Mr Dunn, but had come off his back and elected to go forward passing the 1100 metres. Shortly after, when he got to Mr Williamson’s wheel, Mr Williamson moved out, one cart off the markers, he said. He expected Mr Williamson to keep going forward but he had the opportunity to go back down as THEODOSIA had not taken up the gap. Mr Purdon said that he had taken a hold of his horse to get on the back of Mr Williamson. He said it was apparent from the video replay that his horse had “broken momentum” in anticipation of Mr Williamson coming out. Shown the video replay passing the 1100 metres, Mr Purdon said that it could be seen that Mr Williamson was on the wheel of the horse he was following. He, Mr Purdon, was one off the markers at that point.
Mr Purdon was then shown the head-on replay entering the back straight. At that point, Mr Purdon said, he was definitely one off the markers. Mr Purdon had elected to remain there as the pace was quite strong. Had he gone forward, Mr Williamson would have been able to ease him out.
Mr Purdon said, in reply to a question from Mr Williamson, that had Mr Williams been on the leader’s back, then Mr Williamson would have been on Mr Williams’ back.
Mr Williamson said that the only time that he had intended to go ahead of Mr Purdon was immediately before the leader broke. Mr Purdon would have known that had he improved to the outside of him, then he would have been forced wider on the track. Mr Purdon had stayed back for that reason, he said. Mr Williamson said that the only time that he had asked his horse to “come out slightly” was on the bend as it had negotiated that bend poorly on the first round and lost ground.
Mr Williamson called the horse’s trainer, Mr P C Williamson, to give evidence. Mr P C Williamson said that Mr Williamson had clearly moved wider on the track rounding the bend to give room to his horse which lugs in. The horse is inclined to do this, thus it wears a Murphy Blind, he said.
Mr Renault, in conclusion, submitted that Mr Williamson did come out just as Mr Purdon went to get up alongside him. As a result, Mr Purdon has been obliged to take hold. The back straight video clearly showed that Mr Williamson was on the wheel, and not the sulky seat, of Mr Williams for most of the back straight. This impeded the driver behind him, Mr Purdon, who does not attempt to improve because he does not wish to go 3-wide. At all times, Mr Purdon is one-off. Mr Williams is holding his line parallel to the markers.
Reasons for Decision:
In determining a charge of “half carting”, it is necessary for the Committee to be aware of the wording of the Rule – “a horseman shall trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of the sulky being trailed”. The requirement of the Rule is simple and the reason for the Rule is obvious. It is to prevent a driver from leaving his options open – whether to come fully out or remain on the sulky wheel of the runner being trailed leaving that option open or whether to remain trailing the sulky seat of the runner being trailed and risk being unable to improve out but to remain there, half out, for as long as possible A driver half carting makes it difficult for the driver of the trailing runner to know what he is going to do, thereby putting that driver in two minds as to whether to improve past or await it coming out.
We heard a lot of evidence in this case, particularly from Mr Williamson who insisted that he had no intention of coming out until near the 700 metres when the leader, ONE OVER DA STARS, broke and shifted wider on the track. However, in the Committee’s view, the video evidence was quite clear. Regardless of what Mr Williamson was thinking or intending to do, he had failed to trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of VALLORIA, driven Mr Williams, on both occasions alleged by the Stewards. In other words, he had half carted. The test is, we believe, an objective one and Mr Williamson’s state of mind is largely irrelevant.
Mr Williamson explained the first incident of alleged half carting by stating that he had given his horse room to avoid it striking track markers as he said it had done at that point on the first lap. We accept that to be a valid practice, but only so long as no trailing runner is inconvenienced by the half carting. We find that MAJESTIC MAN was trailing the wheel of VALLORIA at that point and Mr Purdon, driver of the trailing runner, said so. Mr Purdon further said that he had ceased his forward move in anticipation of Mr Williamson coming out. When Mr Purdon did so, we believe that Mr Williamson remained where he was in preference to moving out in front of Mr Purdon. We deem this to be half carting.
Further on, in the back straight, the head-on video replay clearly showed Mr Williamson’s horse trailing the sulky wheel of VALLORIA, with Mr Purdon stating that his runner, WINTERFELL, was one-off which was borne out by that replay. Furthermore, we do not accept, as submitted by Mr Williamson, that VALLORIA should have been racing on the sulky seat of ONE OVER DA STARS, as that latter runner was racing away from the markers and, significantly, went off stride shortly after that.
In the end, the Committee was not persuaded by any of Mr Williamson’s arguments. He may not have intended to half cart but, on a strict interpretation of the Rule which, effectively, defines half carting he has failed to trail with his horse’s head behind the sulky seat of VALLORIA and, therefore, the Committee is satisfied that he has half carted as alleged by the Stewards.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Renault said that Mr Williamson has had 283 drives this season and has a clear record under the Rule. He referred to the Penalty Guide starting point of a 4-drives suspension or a $200 fine. This was a Group 3 race for a stake of $30,000 and, on that basis, Stewards were submitting that an uplift from that starting point was appropriate and also having regard to the fact that Mr Purdon was hampered for some distance. In mitigation, Mr Williamson had a good record.
Mr Renault submitted that an appropriate penalty would be a 2-days suspension. Mr Williamson has three drives at tonight’s meeting. He does a lot of his driving in the Otago-Southland region and would average approximately 6 drives per meeting. Mr Williamson said that he has 7 drives at the Wyndham meeting the next day.
Mr Williamson said that, were he to receive a suspension, he would seek a deferment until after the Forbury Park meeting on 28 March. He was in a position to pay a fine and that was his preference.
Reasons for Penalty:
Mr Renault has submitted that an appropriate penalty is a 2-days suspension. However, in considering penalty, we cannot ignore the Penalty Guide suggested starting point for a breach of the Rule. A breach of this Rule is not among the more serious breaches under the Rules, as reflected by that starting point.
We have not overlooked the status of the race and the stake payable, which Mr Renault asked us to consider as an aggravating factor. We note that the race, for a stake of $30,000, did not qualify as a “major race” – a race with stakes of $40,000 or more.
What concerns us as far as Mr Renault’s submission for a term of suspension is concerned is that it is difficult to impose a term of suspension using the Penalty Guide starting point of a 4-drives suspension in the case of Mr Williamson. We were told that he has seven drives at the meeting of Wairio TC the next day.
Having regard to that, the Committee has decided that a fine would be a more appropriate penalty. In fixing the amount of that fine, we took the starting point of a $200 fine and added an uplift for the status of the race and stake payable, and for the level of the breach which, in the Committee’s view, was above mid-range. Put simply, a $200 fine would not have adequately punished this breach, in all of the circumstances. The fine of $400, which we have arrived at, takes into account Mr Williamson’s previous good record.
JCA Decision Fields (raw)
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hearingid: f28f4235f4cc6c1103128a08f145296e
informantnumber: A11367
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Half-carting
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 27/03/2019
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 22 March 2019 - R 5 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Championship (Group 3), an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Open Horseman, Mr B M Williamson, alleging that Mr Williamson, as the driver of MAJESTIC MAN in the race, “for some distance passing the 1100 metres and again soon afterwards he allowed his horse to trail a sulky wheel”.
Mr Williamson had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that he did not admit the breach. He was present at the hearing of the information and he confirmed that he denied the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(5) A horseman shall trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of the sulky being trailed.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Renault showed a video replay of part of the race as the field passed the 1100 metres. MAJESTIC MAN, driven by Mr Williamson, was racing in “indian file” in 3rd position, a gap behind the horse in front of him, VALLORIA (T M Williams). At the same time, WINTERFELL (M Purdon) was improving without cover around SUNDEES SON (J R Dunn) and THEODOSIA (C A Butt), both of those runners racing on the markers.
Mr Renault said the Stewards were alleging that Mr Williamson had trailed the sulky wheel of VALLORIA for some distance around the bend and, again, in the back straight. As Mr Purdon improved at the 1000 metres, the sulky wheel of THEODOSIA, in 4th position, was on the marker line and Mr Williamson was “half out” and trailing the sulky wheel of VALLORIA. This inconvenienced Mr Purdon who was attempting to improve, Mr Renault submitted.
Mr Renault then showed a head-on video replay as the field entered the back straight approaching the 800 metres. He pointed out the runners and submitted that Mr Williamson was “half carting”. Mr Williamson then briefly got on to the back of VALLORIA but, shortly thereafter, he again shifted out onto the wheel of VALLORIA, Mr Renault said.
The allegation of the Stewards was that, from the 1100 metres, Mr Williamson had shifted out onto the wheel of Mr Williams and had remained there. He was not trailing the sulky seat, otherwise he would have been in the same position as THEODOSIA. In the back straight, it was quite evident that Mr Williamson was on the wheel – “not completely out, and not completely in”, Mr Renault submitted. This is half carting, Mr Renault said.
Mr Williamson asked Mr Renault whether he believed that the leader, ONE OVER DA STARS (R T May) was racing against the markers in the back straight. Mr Renault agreed that it was some distance away from the markers, one-off, he said. Mr Williamson put it to Mr Renault that he had been racing in the one-out line, in line with the leader. Mr Williams had been racing on the inside wheel of the leader until the leader broke (at about the 750 metres), Mr Williamson said. Mr Renault agreed. Mr Williamson said that his horse was running out slightly, like the leader. It wore a Murphy Blind on the inside, he said, and was running away from it slightly in the straight. There were a number of other runners racing on the wheel because of the running line established by the leader, Mr Williamson said.
Mr Williamson said that racing into the bend on the first occasion, his horse had run inside a couple of marker pegs so, on the next occasion, he gave himself some extra room by racing wider of the markers.
Mr Purdon said that he had been following Mr Dunn, but had come off his back and elected to go forward passing the 1100 metres. Shortly after, when he got to Mr Williamson’s wheel, Mr Williamson moved out, one cart off the markers, he said. He expected Mr Williamson to keep going forward but he had the opportunity to go back down as THEODOSIA had not taken up the gap. Mr Purdon said that he had taken a hold of his horse to get on the back of Mr Williamson. He said it was apparent from the video replay that his horse had “broken momentum” in anticipation of Mr Williamson coming out. Shown the video replay passing the 1100 metres, Mr Purdon said that it could be seen that Mr Williamson was on the wheel of the horse he was following. He, Mr Purdon, was one off the markers at that point.
Mr Purdon was then shown the head-on replay entering the back straight. At that point, Mr Purdon said, he was definitely one off the markers. Mr Purdon had elected to remain there as the pace was quite strong. Had he gone forward, Mr Williamson would have been able to ease him out.
Mr Purdon said, in reply to a question from Mr Williamson, that had Mr Williams been on the leader’s back, then Mr Williamson would have been on Mr Williams’ back.
Mr Williamson said that the only time that he had intended to go ahead of Mr Purdon was immediately before the leader broke. Mr Purdon would have known that had he improved to the outside of him, then he would have been forced wider on the track. Mr Purdon had stayed back for that reason, he said. Mr Williamson said that the only time that he had asked his horse to “come out slightly” was on the bend as it had negotiated that bend poorly on the first round and lost ground.
Mr Williamson called the horse’s trainer, Mr P C Williamson, to give evidence. Mr P C Williamson said that Mr Williamson had clearly moved wider on the track rounding the bend to give room to his horse which lugs in. The horse is inclined to do this, thus it wears a Murphy Blind, he said.
Mr Renault, in conclusion, submitted that Mr Williamson did come out just as Mr Purdon went to get up alongside him. As a result, Mr Purdon has been obliged to take hold. The back straight video clearly showed that Mr Williamson was on the wheel, and not the sulky seat, of Mr Williams for most of the back straight. This impeded the driver behind him, Mr Purdon, who does not attempt to improve because he does not wish to go 3-wide. At all times, Mr Purdon is one-off. Mr Williams is holding his line parallel to the markers.
reasonsfordecision:
In determining a charge of “half carting”, it is necessary for the Committee to be aware of the wording of the Rule – “a horseman shall trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of the sulky being trailed”. The requirement of the Rule is simple and the reason for the Rule is obvious. It is to prevent a driver from leaving his options open – whether to come fully out or remain on the sulky wheel of the runner being trailed leaving that option open or whether to remain trailing the sulky seat of the runner being trailed and risk being unable to improve out but to remain there, half out, for as long as possible A driver half carting makes it difficult for the driver of the trailing runner to know what he is going to do, thereby putting that driver in two minds as to whether to improve past or await it coming out.
We heard a lot of evidence in this case, particularly from Mr Williamson who insisted that he had no intention of coming out until near the 700 metres when the leader, ONE OVER DA STARS, broke and shifted wider on the track. However, in the Committee’s view, the video evidence was quite clear. Regardless of what Mr Williamson was thinking or intending to do, he had failed to trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of VALLORIA, driven Mr Williams, on both occasions alleged by the Stewards. In other words, he had half carted. The test is, we believe, an objective one and Mr Williamson’s state of mind is largely irrelevant.
Mr Williamson explained the first incident of alleged half carting by stating that he had given his horse room to avoid it striking track markers as he said it had done at that point on the first lap. We accept that to be a valid practice, but only so long as no trailing runner is inconvenienced by the half carting. We find that MAJESTIC MAN was trailing the wheel of VALLORIA at that point and Mr Purdon, driver of the trailing runner, said so. Mr Purdon further said that he had ceased his forward move in anticipation of Mr Williamson coming out. When Mr Purdon did so, we believe that Mr Williamson remained where he was in preference to moving out in front of Mr Purdon. We deem this to be half carting.
Further on, in the back straight, the head-on video replay clearly showed Mr Williamson’s horse trailing the sulky wheel of VALLORIA, with Mr Purdon stating that his runner, WINTERFELL, was one-off which was borne out by that replay. Furthermore, we do not accept, as submitted by Mr Williamson, that VALLORIA should have been racing on the sulky seat of ONE OVER DA STARS, as that latter runner was racing away from the markers and, significantly, went off stride shortly after that.
In the end, the Committee was not persuaded by any of Mr Williamson’s arguments. He may not have intended to half cart but, on a strict interpretation of the Rule which, effectively, defines half carting he has failed to trail with his horse’s head behind the sulky seat of VALLORIA and, therefore, the Committee is satisfied that he has half carted as alleged by the Stewards.
Decision:
The charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Renault said that Mr Williamson has had 283 drives this season and has a clear record under the Rule. He referred to the Penalty Guide starting point of a 4-drives suspension or a $200 fine. This was a Group 3 race for a stake of $30,000 and, on that basis, Stewards were submitting that an uplift from that starting point was appropriate and also having regard to the fact that Mr Purdon was hampered for some distance. In mitigation, Mr Williamson had a good record.
Mr Renault submitted that an appropriate penalty would be a 2-days suspension. Mr Williamson has three drives at tonight’s meeting. He does a lot of his driving in the Otago-Southland region and would average approximately 6 drives per meeting. Mr Williamson said that he has 7 drives at the Wyndham meeting the next day.
Mr Williamson said that, were he to receive a suspension, he would seek a deferment until after the Forbury Park meeting on 28 March. He was in a position to pay a fine and that was his preference.
reasonsforpenalty:
Mr Renault has submitted that an appropriate penalty is a 2-days suspension. However, in considering penalty, we cannot ignore the Penalty Guide suggested starting point for a breach of the Rule. A breach of this Rule is not among the more serious breaches under the Rules, as reflected by that starting point.
We have not overlooked the status of the race and the stake payable, which Mr Renault asked us to consider as an aggravating factor. We note that the race, for a stake of $30,000, did not qualify as a “major race” – a race with stakes of $40,000 or more.
What concerns us as far as Mr Renault’s submission for a term of suspension is concerned is that it is difficult to impose a term of suspension using the Penalty Guide starting point of a 4-drives suspension in the case of Mr Williamson. We were told that he has seven drives at the meeting of Wairio TC the next day.
Having regard to that, the Committee has decided that a fine would be a more appropriate penalty. In fixing the amount of that fine, we took the starting point of a $200 fine and added an uplift for the status of the race and stake payable, and for the level of the breach which, in the Committee’s view, was above mid-range. Put simply, a $200 fine would not have adequately punished this breach, in all of the circumstances. The fine of $400, which we have arrived at, takes into account Mr Williamson’s previous good record.
penalty:
Mr Williamson is fined the sum of $400.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(5)
Informant: Mr S P Renault - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr B M Williamson - Licensed Open Driver
Otherperson: Mr M Purdon - Driver of WINTERFELL, Mr P C Williamson - Trainer of MAJESTIC MAN
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
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race_title: R 5
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meetdate: 22/03/2019
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 22 March 2019
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meet_chair: RMcKenzie
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name: NZ Metro TC