NZ Metropolitan TC – 20 May 2011 – R 6
ID: JCA17344
Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 20 May 2011
Meet Chair:
JPhelan
Meet Committee Member 1:
RMcKenzie
Race Date:
2011/05/20
Race Number:
R6
Decision:
On returning to the Enquiry Room we advised the parties that a full written decision would be provided later giving full reasons, and that the charge was found to be proved.
Penalty:
On resuming the hearing Mr May was not present and we advised the hearing of our reasons and that Mr May was fined the sum of $250.
Charge:
Alleged breach of Rule 869(5).
Facts:
Following the running of Race 6, the Nevele R – Wayne Francis Memorial New Zealand Oaks, an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr N. M. Ydgren against Open Horseman Mr R. T. May, the driver of “Carabella” (10), alleging a breach of Rule 869(5), the “half carting” Rule. The charge reads as follows:-
“I the above named informant allege that the above named Defendant committed a breach of Rule 869(5) in that you positioned Carabella on the outside wheel of Tatijana Bromac for no less than 150m down the back straight on the final occasion.”
“I the above named informant allege that the above named Defendant committed a breach of Rule 869(5) in that you positioned Carabella on the outside wheel of Tatijana Bromac for no less than 150m down the back straight on the final occasion.”
Rules 869(5) reads as follows,
“(5) A horseman shall trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of the sulky being trailed.”
Mr May had indicated on the Information that this breach of the Rules was not admitted and he confirmed this at the hearing.
Prior to this hearing commencing Mr Ydgren made an application under Rule 1111(3) to amend the information by replacing “250m” with “150m”.
Rule 1111(3) provides as follows.
“(3) In any case where an information alleging a breach of these Rules has been filed and the defendant has appeared to answer the information the informant may, at any time before the Judicial Committee has given its decision in respect of the information, request the Judicial Committee to permit him to amend the in formation in a respect or respects to be stipulated by him and the Judicial Committee may permit the information to be amended accordingly.”
Mr May objected to this amendment being made. When asked for the reasons for this objection he said that during the preliminary enquiry it had been stated that the alleged offence had been over a distance of 250 metres, which he denied. Mr May was asked if the amended distance would have affected his plea in this case, and he said that it would not have. We undertook to review Mr May’s objection after this matter had been heard, to determine if the amendment had in any way prejudiced his defence. The case was heard on the basis that Mr May had half carted for about 150 metres.
After hearing the evidence we were satisfied that whether the half carting continued for 250 or 150 metres made no difference to whether or not the breach had been committed.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Ydgren gave evidence and used video coverage to show that on entering the back straight for the final time Mr May was in the one out and one back position. He moved his horse out to trail the sulky wheel of the horse in front of him, and although he moved back in briefly on a couple of occasions, he continued to trail the sulky wheel for a significant distance. Mr Ydgren said that because of Mr May’s driving tactics the horse on his outside had to travel 3½ wide instead of 3 wide, and the horse on Mr May’s inside was denied the opportunity to move off the marker line and into the two wide line. This Rule is there to prevent inconvenience to other runners who want to improve their positions.
Mr May gave evidence that he was driving the hot favourite (“Carabella”) and that he wanted to give it every opportunity to win the race, and that he did not want to make his run too soon. He also said that he did not believe he had caused any inconvenience to other horses in the race.
Mr May called Mr A. M. Butt, the driver of “Minnie Moose” (12), to give evidence. Mr Butt said that he was travelling on the outside of Mr May at the time, and that he did not believe that his chances had been affected. He said he knew that Mr May would come out at some stage.
We adjourned to consider our decision.
Reasons for Decision:
We had looked at the video coverage of this incident on many occasions during the hearing. It was clear to us that Mr May had trailed the wheel of the horse in front of him for a significant distance along the back straight. The fact that Mr May was driving the hot favourite was not relevant, and not a defence to this charge. It was clear to us that other horses in the race had been affected by Mr May’s driving tactics, and that the charge had been proved.
Submissions for Penalty:
In relation to penalty Mr Ydgren advised that Mr May had no relevant previous breaches of this Rule. The Penalty Guide recommends a starting point of a fine of $200 for a breach of this Rule. Mr Ydgren also submitted that this was a Group One race for a stake of $125,000 which should be taken into account, and submitted that a fine of $300 should be imposed in this case.
Mr May had no submissions to make regarding penalty.
We adjourned to consider the matter of penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
We were satisfied that an appropriate starting point for a penalty for a breach of this Rule is a fine of $200 but, as the race was a Group One race with a stake of $125,000, this should also be taken into account. We assessed the breach as not being at the high end of the scale of seriousness. Taking all these matters into account we decided that Mr May would be fined the sum of $250.
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: fc37bd77f77805e85303fcf8c5afdd3d
informantnumber: 69440
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 14/04/2011
hearing_title: NZ Metropolitan TC - 20 May 2011 - R 6
charge:
Alleged breach of Rule 869(5).
facts:
Following the running of Race 6, the Nevele R – Wayne Francis Memorial New Zealand Oaks, an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr N. M. Ydgren against Open Horseman Mr R. T. May, the driver of “Carabella” (10), alleging a breach of Rule 869(5), the “half carting” Rule. The charge reads as follows:-
“I the above named informant allege that the above named Defendant committed a breach of Rule 869(5) in that you positioned Carabella on the outside wheel of Tatijana Bromac for no less than 150m down the back straight on the final occasion.”
“I the above named informant allege that the above named Defendant committed a breach of Rule 869(5) in that you positioned Carabella on the outside wheel of Tatijana Bromac for no less than 150m down the back straight on the final occasion.”
Rules 869(5) reads as follows,
“(5) A horseman shall trail with his horse’s head behind the seat of the sulky being trailed.”
Mr May had indicated on the Information that this breach of the Rules was not admitted and he confirmed this at the hearing.
Prior to this hearing commencing Mr Ydgren made an application under Rule 1111(3) to amend the information by replacing “250m” with “150m”.
Rule 1111(3) provides as follows.
“(3) In any case where an information alleging a breach of these Rules has been filed and the defendant has appeared to answer the information the informant may, at any time before the Judicial Committee has given its decision in respect of the information, request the Judicial Committee to permit him to amend the in formation in a respect or respects to be stipulated by him and the Judicial Committee may permit the information to be amended accordingly.”
Mr May objected to this amendment being made. When asked for the reasons for this objection he said that during the preliminary enquiry it had been stated that the alleged offence had been over a distance of 250 metres, which he denied. Mr May was asked if the amended distance would have affected his plea in this case, and he said that it would not have. We undertook to review Mr May’s objection after this matter had been heard, to determine if the amendment had in any way prejudiced his defence. The case was heard on the basis that Mr May had half carted for about 150 metres.
After hearing the evidence we were satisfied that whether the half carting continued for 250 or 150 metres made no difference to whether or not the breach had been committed.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Ydgren gave evidence and used video coverage to show that on entering the back straight for the final time Mr May was in the one out and one back position. He moved his horse out to trail the sulky wheel of the horse in front of him, and although he moved back in briefly on a couple of occasions, he continued to trail the sulky wheel for a significant distance. Mr Ydgren said that because of Mr May’s driving tactics the horse on his outside had to travel 3½ wide instead of 3 wide, and the horse on Mr May’s inside was denied the opportunity to move off the marker line and into the two wide line. This Rule is there to prevent inconvenience to other runners who want to improve their positions.
Mr May gave evidence that he was driving the hot favourite (“Carabella”) and that he wanted to give it every opportunity to win the race, and that he did not want to make his run too soon. He also said that he did not believe he had caused any inconvenience to other horses in the race.
Mr May called Mr A. M. Butt, the driver of “Minnie Moose” (12), to give evidence. Mr Butt said that he was travelling on the outside of Mr May at the time, and that he did not believe that his chances had been affected. He said he knew that Mr May would come out at some stage.
We adjourned to consider our decision.
reasonsfordecision:
We had looked at the video coverage of this incident on many occasions during the hearing. It was clear to us that Mr May had trailed the wheel of the horse in front of him for a significant distance along the back straight. The fact that Mr May was driving the hot favourite was not relevant, and not a defence to this charge. It was clear to us that other horses in the race had been affected by Mr May’s driving tactics, and that the charge had been proved.
Decision:
On returning to the Enquiry Room we advised the parties that a full written decision would be provided later giving full reasons, and that the charge was found to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
In relation to penalty Mr Ydgren advised that Mr May had no relevant previous breaches of this Rule. The Penalty Guide recommends a starting point of a fine of $200 for a breach of this Rule. Mr Ydgren also submitted that this was a Group One race for a stake of $125,000 which should be taken into account, and submitted that a fine of $300 should be imposed in this case.
Mr May had no submissions to make regarding penalty.
We adjourned to consider the matter of penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
We were satisfied that an appropriate starting point for a penalty for a breach of this Rule is a fine of $200 but, as the race was a Group One race with a stake of $125,000, this should also be taken into account. We assessed the breach as not being at the high end of the scale of seriousness. Taking all these matters into account we decided that Mr May would be fined the sum of $250.
penalty:
On resuming the hearing Mr May was not present and we advised the hearing of our reasons and that Mr May was fined the sum of $250.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(5)
Informant: Mr N. M. Ydgren - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr R. T. May - Open Horseman
Otherperson: Mr A. M. Butt - Open Horseman
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: b6e7c3f569117d518dbe3c2b7dd361eb
race_expapproval:
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race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
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race_title: R6
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meetid: ea532e2abe5b888ff7ba5921151fdcb2
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meetdate: 20/05/2011
meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 20 May 2011
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meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: nz-metro-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: JPhelan
meet_pm1: RMcKenzie
meet_pm2: none
name: NZ Metro TC