Oamaru HRC 13 September 2015 – R 2 – Chair, Prof G Hall
ID: JCA15762
Meet Title:
Oamaru HRC - 13 September 2015
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
PKnowles
Race Date:
2015/09/13
Race Number:
R2
Decision:
Mr McCormick admitted the charge. The charge is thus proved.
Penalty:
Mr McCormick’s Open Horseman’s Licence is suspended from the conclusion of racing today up to and including 20 September 2015. This is Addington and Methven; two South Island days.
Facts:
Following the running of race 2 the SOUTHERN WINES FILLES & MARES MOBILE PACE the Stewards lodged an information under Rule 869(2)(a) alleging that Mr McCormick used his whip excessively when driving out ARMBRO BELLBIRD.
Rule 869(2)(a) reads: No horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner
Mr Allison, with the use of the videos, stated that ARMBRO BELLBIRD was in a trailing position. From approximately the 400m mark Mr McCormick used his whip continuously, striking the horse 23 to 24 times prior to it breaking from its gait at about the 50m mark. There had been pauses in his action but not long enough given the number of strikes.
Mr McCormick said he had tried to break up his action. However, he had realised that he had struck the horse too many times. He said he was trying to do his best for the connections of the horse.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Allison stated Mr McCormick had a similar breach in January this year and had been suspended for 3 days. He had driven 50 times last season and had about 6 drives this season. He had admitted the charge and had cooperated with the Stewards throughout. The JCA Penalty Guide recommended a $500 fine or a two day suspension for a first offence. He believed the offence was mid range and was seeking a fine of $400. He said if it was a suspension it should be 3 days.
Mr McCormick stated he drove infrequently and preferred a suspension as opposed to a fine. He challenged Mr Allison’s assessment that 3 days’ suspension was appropriate. He said this was more than the starting point, yet on the other hand Mr Allison was submitting that a fine of less than $500 was appropriate.
Reasons for Penalty:
We count 24 strikes to the horse, and this excludes some back-handed flicks with the whip. As Mr McCormick acknowledges, this is simply too many. There is some attempt to break up the strikes, but there is no other mitigating feature of the breach. Indeed, it is possible that ARMBRO BELLBIRD may have resented being continuously hit with the whip and has gone into a break as a consequence.
The starting point is a fine of $500 or 2 days’ suspension. The Penalty Guide requires us to treat this as a first breach of the Rule as the respondent’s previous breach is outside the six month period. Where a driver drives only infrequently, this introduces an element of artificiality into the assessment. Mr McCormick in fact has had only a small number of drives since his last breach of this rule.
The breach is at the top end of mid-range. The respondent has admitted the breach. We see no reason to move up or down from the two day starting point.
JCA Decision Fields (raw)
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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: cd0826fd880e076c70f5973d4857ebed
informantnumber: A1426
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: excessive use of the whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 17/09/2015
hearing_title: Oamaru HRC 13 September 2015 - R 2 - Chair, Prof G Hall
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 2 the SOUTHERN WINES FILLES & MARES MOBILE PACE the Stewards lodged an information under Rule 869(2)(a) alleging that Mr McCormick used his whip excessively when driving out ARMBRO BELLBIRD.
Rule 869(2)(a) reads: No horseman shall during any race use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner
Mr Allison, with the use of the videos, stated that ARMBRO BELLBIRD was in a trailing position. From approximately the 400m mark Mr McCormick used his whip continuously, striking the horse 23 to 24 times prior to it breaking from its gait at about the 50m mark. There had been pauses in his action but not long enough given the number of strikes.
Mr McCormick said he had tried to break up his action. However, he had realised that he had struck the horse too many times. He said he was trying to do his best for the connections of the horse.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr McCormick admitted the charge. The charge is thus proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Allison stated Mr McCormick had a similar breach in January this year and had been suspended for 3 days. He had driven 50 times last season and had about 6 drives this season. He had admitted the charge and had cooperated with the Stewards throughout. The JCA Penalty Guide recommended a $500 fine or a two day suspension for a first offence. He believed the offence was mid range and was seeking a fine of $400. He said if it was a suspension it should be 3 days.
Mr McCormick stated he drove infrequently and preferred a suspension as opposed to a fine. He challenged Mr Allison’s assessment that 3 days’ suspension was appropriate. He said this was more than the starting point, yet on the other hand Mr Allison was submitting that a fine of less than $500 was appropriate.
reasonsforpenalty:
We count 24 strikes to the horse, and this excludes some back-handed flicks with the whip. As Mr McCormick acknowledges, this is simply too many. There is some attempt to break up the strikes, but there is no other mitigating feature of the breach. Indeed, it is possible that ARMBRO BELLBIRD may have resented being continuously hit with the whip and has gone into a break as a consequence.
The starting point is a fine of $500 or 2 days’ suspension. The Penalty Guide requires us to treat this as a first breach of the Rule as the respondent’s previous breach is outside the six month period. Where a driver drives only infrequently, this introduces an element of artificiality into the assessment. Mr McCormick in fact has had only a small number of drives since his last breach of this rule.
The breach is at the top end of mid-range. The respondent has admitted the breach. We see no reason to move up or down from the two day starting point.
penalty:
Mr McCormick’s Open Horseman’s Licence is suspended from the conclusion of racing today up to and including 20 September 2015. This is Addington and Methven; two South Island days.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: Mr C Allison – Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr L McCormick – Open Horseman
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: f254a775426bf61511b0bd210f36d129
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 1586b2185aa1ec1c1b86118db0abae56
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 13/09/2015
meet_title: Oamaru HRC - 13 September 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: oamaru-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: PKnowles
meet_pm2: none
name: Oamaru HRC