NZ Metro TC 7 April 2017 – R 7 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA14695
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 7 April 2017
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2017/04/07
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
Mr Jones having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Jones was fined the sum of $450.00.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 7, Fred Shaw Memorial NZ Trotting Championship (Group 1), an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr N M Ydgren, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr M P Jones, alleging that Mr Jones, as the driver of MASTER LAVROS in the race, “used his whip in an excessive manner inside the final 400 metres”.
Mr Jones had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that the breach was admitted. Mr Jones was present at the hearing of the information and he confirmed that he admitted the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:-
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Mr Ydgren showed a video replay of the final stages of the race. He pointed out Mr Jones, driving MASTER LAVROS, racing in the trail behind the leader, WILMA’S MATE, as the field turned for home. He said that Stewards were alleging that Mr Jones had used his whip twelve times in the final 400 metres of the race.
Mr Ydgren pointed out on the video that, after the first strike, there was a considerable pause in Mr Jones’ use of the whip. When Mr Jones resumed using the whip, Mr Ydgren alleged, he used it a further eleven times, twelve in total, and clearly in excess of the ten times permitted by the guidelines. Mr Jones accepted the number of strikes alleged by Mr Ydgren and the number was borne out by the video replay.
Mr Jones said that he had made “an error of judgement”. He added that, half-way up the straight, he thought that the horse was still going to win the race.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Ydgren informed the Committee that Mr Jones has a clear record under the Rule. He has had, prior to this meeting, 68 drives in the current season to date, in the 2015/2016 season, had a total of 84 drives and, in the 2014/2015 season, 223 drives. Mr Ydgren said that Mr Jones has reduced his driving in the past couple of seasons, but is still a reasonably busy driver and one of our more senior drivers. He had also admitted the breach and was entitled to credit for that, Mr Ydgren submitted.
Mr Renault pointed out that the Penalty Guide provides a starting point of a $500 fine or a 2 days’ suspension for a breach of the Rule. Mr Ydgren added that the race was a “major race” for the purposes of the Penalty Guide – a Group 1 race for a total stake of $80,000. He submitted that this warranted an uplift from the starting point of a $500 fine. A fine in the range of $400-500 was appropriate, he submitted.
Mr Jones frankly stated that he had breached the Rules and that he had no issue with a fine in the range submitted by Mr Ydgren.
Reasons for Penalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee took the starting point for a breach of the Rule of a $500 fine as provided in the Penalty Guide. We agreed with Mr Ydgren that the status of the race and the stake payable was a significant aggravating factor for which we applied an uplift of $150 in the starting point. The breach, in the Committee’s view, was otherwise in the mid-range. Mitigating factors were Mr Jones’ frank admission of the breach and his previous good record. We assessed those two factors as warranting a discount of $200 from the uplifted starting point of $650.
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: 718f5ff8953b4c1ddd27f76df0b3ba1c
informantnumber: A8959
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 08/04/2017
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC 7 April 2017 - R 7 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 7, Fred Shaw Memorial NZ Trotting Championship (Group 1), an information was filed by Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr N M Ydgren, against Licensed Open Driver, Mr M P Jones, alleging that Mr Jones, as the driver of MASTER LAVROS in the race, “used his whip in an excessive manner inside the final 400 metres”.
Mr Jones had signed the Statement by the Respondent on the information form indicating that the breach was admitted. Mr Jones was present at the hearing of the information and he confirmed that he admitted the breach.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:-
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Mr Ydgren showed a video replay of the final stages of the race. He pointed out Mr Jones, driving MASTER LAVROS, racing in the trail behind the leader, WILMA’S MATE, as the field turned for home. He said that Stewards were alleging that Mr Jones had used his whip twelve times in the final 400 metres of the race.
Mr Ydgren pointed out on the video that, after the first strike, there was a considerable pause in Mr Jones’ use of the whip. When Mr Jones resumed using the whip, Mr Ydgren alleged, he used it a further eleven times, twelve in total, and clearly in excess of the ten times permitted by the guidelines. Mr Jones accepted the number of strikes alleged by Mr Ydgren and the number was borne out by the video replay.
Mr Jones said that he had made “an error of judgement”. He added that, half-way up the straight, he thought that the horse was still going to win the race.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Jones having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Ydgren informed the Committee that Mr Jones has a clear record under the Rule. He has had, prior to this meeting, 68 drives in the current season to date, in the 2015/2016 season, had a total of 84 drives and, in the 2014/2015 season, 223 drives. Mr Ydgren said that Mr Jones has reduced his driving in the past couple of seasons, but is still a reasonably busy driver and one of our more senior drivers. He had also admitted the breach and was entitled to credit for that, Mr Ydgren submitted.
Mr Renault pointed out that the Penalty Guide provides a starting point of a $500 fine or a 2 days’ suspension for a breach of the Rule. Mr Ydgren added that the race was a “major race” for the purposes of the Penalty Guide – a Group 1 race for a total stake of $80,000. He submitted that this warranted an uplift from the starting point of a $500 fine. A fine in the range of $400-500 was appropriate, he submitted.
Mr Jones frankly stated that he had breached the Rules and that he had no issue with a fine in the range submitted by Mr Ydgren.
reasonsforpenalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee took the starting point for a breach of the Rule of a $500 fine as provided in the Penalty Guide. We agreed with Mr Ydgren that the status of the race and the stake payable was a significant aggravating factor for which we applied an uplift of $150 in the starting point. The breach, in the Committee’s view, was otherwise in the mid-range. Mitigating factors were Mr Jones’ frank admission of the breach and his previous good record. We assessed those two factors as warranting a discount of $200 from the uplifted starting point of $650.
penalty:
Mr Jones was fined the sum of $450.00.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: N M Ydgren, Chief Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: M P Jones, Licensed Open Horseman
Otherperson: Mr Renault - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 067893b03df1cc5b05fd46a36f685f3e
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 729bbc79037d8cae2940caa8775e2dbc
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 07/04/2017
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 7 April 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nz-metro-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: NZ Metro TC