NZ Metro TC 26 September 2014 – R 4
ID: JCA16937
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 26 September 2014
Meet Chair:
KHales
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2014/09/26
Race Number:
R4
Decision:
As Ms Ottley has admitted the breach, it is therefore deemed to be proved.
Penalty:
Ms Ottley is fined $200.
Facts:
As the field was approaching the 1000 metres mark in the "Highview Tommy" Standing at Woodlands Stud Handicap Pace, Ms Ottley, driving "Florin" , was racing in 3rd position. About that time Mr N McGrath, driving "Classiesistar" began a forward movement. The video coverage presented by the Stipendiary Stewards showed that Mr McGrath's horse's nose was in line with the sulky wheel of Ms Ottley's horse. However, at that time Ms Ottley also commenced a forward movement, forcing Mr Grath's horse wider on the track. The extent to which it was forced wider was quite pronounced. This incident occurred approximately 20 to 30 metres prior to the 1000 metre mark.
Ms Ottley, admitted the breach of what is commonly known as the "Push-Out" rule, but said that it was an error of judgement on her part, and that Mr McGrath had confirmed to her that it did not make any significant difference to him in terms of his finishing position in the race.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Ydgren said that Ms Ottley was a "busy" driver, having had approximately 1500 drives, and approximately 34 drives in the current season. He said that Ms Ottley has a good record and has not appeared before a Judicial Committee for a breach of the "Push-Out" rule before. Mr Ydgren submitted that whilst the breach occurred a short distance before the 1000 metre mark, that it was "still a breach" of the rule. He drew the panel's attention to the Judicial Control Authority's penalty guide which suggests a fine of $250 or a 5 drive suspension for a breach of this rule. Mr Ydgren confirmed that Mr McGrath had told him that the incident did not make any real difference to the performance of "Classiesistar" in terms of its finishing position.
Ms Ottley submitted that perhaps she could be given a "warning" only. She submitted that her actions were "low on the scale".
Reasons for Penalty:
This panel agrees that the incident was not the most serious of breaches of this rule, because the impact on the affected horse was not great. However, it was still a breach of the rule. We consider that a fine is the appropriate penalty, the starting point being $250.
We find that there were no aggravating features which would warrant an uplift on the starting point.
Insofar as mitigating factors are concerned, we give Ms Ottley credit for her early admission of the breach, and her good record. These factors, including the fact that Mr McGrath was not seriously affected, allow us to give a discount of $50 on the starting point.
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: b5148291d08ad7526e4db32b0bdd8bf5
informantnumber: A6162
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Breach of the "Push-out" rule
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 19/09/2014
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 26 September 2014 - R 4
charge:
facts:
As the field was approaching the 1000 metres mark in the "Highview Tommy" Standing at Woodlands Stud Handicap Pace, Ms Ottley, driving "Florin" , was racing in 3rd position. About that time Mr N McGrath, driving "Classiesistar" began a forward movement. The video coverage presented by the Stipendiary Stewards showed that Mr McGrath's horse's nose was in line with the sulky wheel of Ms Ottley's horse. However, at that time Ms Ottley also commenced a forward movement, forcing Mr Grath's horse wider on the track. The extent to which it was forced wider was quite pronounced. This incident occurred approximately 20 to 30 metres prior to the 1000 metre mark.
Ms Ottley, admitted the breach of what is commonly known as the "Push-Out" rule, but said that it was an error of judgement on her part, and that Mr McGrath had confirmed to her that it did not make any significant difference to him in terms of his finishing position in the race.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Ms Ottley has admitted the breach, it is therefore deemed to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Ydgren said that Ms Ottley was a "busy" driver, having had approximately 1500 drives, and approximately 34 drives in the current season. He said that Ms Ottley has a good record and has not appeared before a Judicial Committee for a breach of the "Push-Out" rule before. Mr Ydgren submitted that whilst the breach occurred a short distance before the 1000 metre mark, that it was "still a breach" of the rule. He drew the panel's attention to the Judicial Control Authority's penalty guide which suggests a fine of $250 or a 5 drive suspension for a breach of this rule. Mr Ydgren confirmed that Mr McGrath had told him that the incident did not make any real difference to the performance of "Classiesistar" in terms of its finishing position.
Ms Ottley submitted that perhaps she could be given a "warning" only. She submitted that her actions were "low on the scale".
reasonsforpenalty:
This panel agrees that the incident was not the most serious of breaches of this rule, because the impact on the affected horse was not great. However, it was still a breach of the rule. We consider that a fine is the appropriate penalty, the starting point being $250.
We find that there were no aggravating features which would warrant an uplift on the starting point.
Insofar as mitigating factors are concerned, we give Ms Ottley credit for her early admission of the breach, and her good record. These factors, including the fact that Mr McGrath was not seriously affected, allow us to give a discount of $50 on the starting point.
penalty:
Ms Ottley is fined $200.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869 (6) Subject to sub-rule (4) hereof:-, (b) a horse making a forward movement during any race shall not be forced to race wider on the track;, (c) a horse during a race shall not move ground outwards once the nose of the wider runner coming forward is in line with or past its sulky wheel and until the wider runner going forward is fully past
Informant: Mr N Ydgren - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: S Ottley - Licensed Driver
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: e4f64cbcdc47d35a3653a2d0709fad46
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R4
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 64ac0f2c06647b46d54c43b22d30849c
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 26/09/2014
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 26 September 2014
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