NZ Metro TC – 7 October 2011 – R6
ID: JCA16524
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 7 October 2011
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
JMillar
Race Date:
2011/10/07
Race Number:
R6
Decision:
Mr Thomas having admitted the charge, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Thomas’ Junior Horseman’s licence was suspended from after racing on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 up to and including Sunday, 6 November 2011.
Charge:
Incompetent driving
Facts:
Following the running of Race 6, Ring 338-2572 Addington Events Centre to Book Your Christmas Function Mobile Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr N G McIntyre, against Licensed Junior Driver, Mr B M Thomas, alleging a breach of Rule 869 (3) (a) in that Mr Thomas, as the driver of VALOUR UNDER FIRE in the race, “drove in an incompetent manner by failing to activate the hopple shorteners for the entire event”.
Mr Thomas was present at the hearing of the information and he indicated that he admitted the breach. He was assisted at the hearing by Mr A M Butt, Licensed Open Horseman.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(3) No horseman in any race shall drive:
(a) incompetently.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr McIntyre said that Mr Thomas was the driver of VALOUR UNDER FIRE in Race 6. The horse was 9/8 in the betting and finished 2.5 lengths from the winner. The Stewards were alleging that Mr Thomas had failed to display the necessary ability or to perform to the required standard. He did not attempt to pull the hopple shorteners and, as a result, they were not activated at any stage during the race. Mr McIntyre said that it was apparent to him with a round to go and at the finishing line that the hopple shorteners had not been pulled. When the horse returned to the exit point off the track post-race, the hopple shorteners had been pulled. Mr Thomas was questioned by the Stewards and he admitted that he had activated the hopple shorteners after the race. Mr Thomas confirmed this to the hearing.
Mr Butt said that the facts were clear and Mr Thomas had readily admitted the breach. He had simply forgotten to activate.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Thomas admitted that he had failed to activate the hopple shorteners in August of last year and had been fined $200 for a breach of Rule 864 (2) (e) – failing to activate gear.
Mr McIntyre referred to the effect on punters as a result of the horse having to run the entire race with its gait restricted. Mr McIntyre also submitted that the Committee should take into account the breach in August of last year. He submitted that the appropriate penalty was a suspension of 4-6 weeks.
Since August of last year, Mr Thomas has had 65 raceday drives, Mr McIntyre said.
Mr Butt submitted that the hopples were only up a minimal amount, probably, only one hole. It was a matter of pure conjecture whether it made a difference to the result of the race. With some horses, the hopples are too long and not activating them is not going to make any difference. Mr Thomas had freely admitted the breach and had simply forgotten to activate the hopples. Mr Butt also submitted that, arguably, the horse had exceeded expectations in that it was 9/8 in the betting but had finished only 2 or 3 lengths from the winner – in other words, it was not expected to race as well as it did. Mr Thomas was a Junior Horseman and still relatively inexperienced, Mr Butt said.
Mr Thomas sought a deferment of any period of suspension until after the meeting of New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club on Tuesday, 11 October. This was not opposed by Mr McIntyre. Mr Thomas said that he averaged about 2 drives per meeting. He expected to be doing a lot of travelling in the next few weeks.
Reasons for Penalty:
In arriving at penalty, the Committee took into account Mr Thomas’ very frank admission of the breach and his relative experience. An aggravating factor was the previous breach, in almost identical circumstances, in August 2010. This was outside the period of 12 months which Judicial Committees usually take into account but the Committee could not completely ignore it. A suspension was called for because the offence of incompetent driving is a serious one. Mr Thomas had not been charged with incompetent driving on the previous occasion but that charge was appropriate on this occasion.
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: bee11bd8f93380bf97257d5af190b6c5
informantnumber: A5451
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 20/09/2011
hearing_title: NZ Metro TC - 7 October 2011 - R6
charge:
Incompetent driving
facts:
Following the running of Race 6, Ring 338-2572 Addington Events Centre to Book Your Christmas Function Mobile Pace, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr N G McIntyre, against Licensed Junior Driver, Mr B M Thomas, alleging a breach of Rule 869 (3) (a) in that Mr Thomas, as the driver of VALOUR UNDER FIRE in the race, “drove in an incompetent manner by failing to activate the hopple shorteners for the entire event”.
Mr Thomas was present at the hearing of the information and he indicated that he admitted the breach. He was assisted at the hearing by Mr A M Butt, Licensed Open Horseman.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(3) No horseman in any race shall drive:
(a) incompetently.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr McIntyre said that Mr Thomas was the driver of VALOUR UNDER FIRE in Race 6. The horse was 9/8 in the betting and finished 2.5 lengths from the winner. The Stewards were alleging that Mr Thomas had failed to display the necessary ability or to perform to the required standard. He did not attempt to pull the hopple shorteners and, as a result, they were not activated at any stage during the race. Mr McIntyre said that it was apparent to him with a round to go and at the finishing line that the hopple shorteners had not been pulled. When the horse returned to the exit point off the track post-race, the hopple shorteners had been pulled. Mr Thomas was questioned by the Stewards and he admitted that he had activated the hopple shorteners after the race. Mr Thomas confirmed this to the hearing.
Mr Butt said that the facts were clear and Mr Thomas had readily admitted the breach. He had simply forgotten to activate.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Thomas having admitted the charge, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Thomas admitted that he had failed to activate the hopple shorteners in August of last year and had been fined $200 for a breach of Rule 864 (2) (e) – failing to activate gear.
Mr McIntyre referred to the effect on punters as a result of the horse having to run the entire race with its gait restricted. Mr McIntyre also submitted that the Committee should take into account the breach in August of last year. He submitted that the appropriate penalty was a suspension of 4-6 weeks.
Since August of last year, Mr Thomas has had 65 raceday drives, Mr McIntyre said.
Mr Butt submitted that the hopples were only up a minimal amount, probably, only one hole. It was a matter of pure conjecture whether it made a difference to the result of the race. With some horses, the hopples are too long and not activating them is not going to make any difference. Mr Thomas had freely admitted the breach and had simply forgotten to activate the hopples. Mr Butt also submitted that, arguably, the horse had exceeded expectations in that it was 9/8 in the betting but had finished only 2 or 3 lengths from the winner – in other words, it was not expected to race as well as it did. Mr Thomas was a Junior Horseman and still relatively inexperienced, Mr Butt said.
Mr Thomas sought a deferment of any period of suspension until after the meeting of New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club on Tuesday, 11 October. This was not opposed by Mr McIntyre. Mr Thomas said that he averaged about 2 drives per meeting. He expected to be doing a lot of travelling in the next few weeks.
reasonsforpenalty:
In arriving at penalty, the Committee took into account Mr Thomas’ very frank admission of the breach and his relative experience. An aggravating factor was the previous breach, in almost identical circumstances, in August 2010. This was outside the period of 12 months which Judicial Committees usually take into account but the Committee could not completely ignore it. A suspension was called for because the offence of incompetent driving is a serious one. Mr Thomas had not been charged with incompetent driving on the previous occasion but that charge was appropriate on this occasion.
penalty:
Mr Thomas’ Junior Horseman’s licence was suspended from after racing on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 up to and including Sunday, 6 November 2011.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(a)
Informant: N G McIntyre, Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: B M Thomas - Licensed Junior Driver
Otherperson: A M Butt - Licensed Open Driver assisting Mr Thomas
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: a944c1cf798994b280076136cf48b160
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R6
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 5e57371ca71cde19821ba3948bb00f7c
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 07/10/2011
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 7 October 2011
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nz-metro-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: JMillar
meet_pm2: none
name: NZ Metro TC