Archive Decision

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Otago RC 29 November 2015 – R 1 – Chair, Mr D Jackson

ID: JCA13128

Applicant:
Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
D Champion and K Murphy - Licensed Trainers

Information Number:
A7754

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Incorrect saddling

Rules:
614(2)

Plea:
admitted

Code:
Thoroughbred

Meet Title:
Otago RC - 29 November 2015

Meet Chair:
DJackson

Meet Committee Member 1:
GHall

Race Date:
2015/11/29

Race Number:
R 1

Decision:

Ms Murphy admitted the charge and it is found proved.

Penalty:

Ms Murphy is fined $400 and reminded of her obligations under the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing New Zealand.

Facts:

Following the running of Race 1, the Speargrass Inn/Cromwell Transport Maiden 2030, an information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward, Mr M Davidson, alleging licensed trainers, D Champion and K Murphy were in breach of Rule 614(2) that they “… presented Bobby Al to the inspection area without its lead bag and in doing so were neglectful in regards to the saddling of this horse…”.

Ms Murphy admitted the charge and appeared at the hearing.

Mr Davidson stated that the plate inspector identified in the inspection area that the lead bag had not been placed in the saddle in the stable area when the horse was being saddled.

Ms Murphy admitted that she had saddled Bobby Al and had forgotten to attach the lead bag. Fortunately, the plate inspector picked up that the bag was missing.

Ms Murphy explained that when she was saddling Bobby Al she had been distracted by one of her horses which had cut its mouth open on a chain and which needed urgent attention including removal of the chain from the horse’s mouth and bandaging (all carried out by Ms Murphy). Distracted Ms Murphy forgot to attach the lead bag as required. Ms Murphy acknowledged that this was not an excuse and was otherwise apologetic and accepting that she had neglected to saddle Bobby Al properly.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Davidson stated that Ms Murphy had no recorded breaches under this or any other rule, and had admitted the breach without question. He noted that previous breaches of the rule where the error had been found at inspection were $500 fines.

Ms Murphy stated that she admitted the charge, it was her first offence under the Rules, she understood the significance of the rule and accepted that a fine was inevitable.

Reasons for Penalty:

The starting point in the penalty guideline is $500. There are no aggravating features present. There are significant mitigating features present however including Ms Murphy’s clean record, her insight and remorse, her co-operation with the stewards, her guilty plea and most significantly in our view her being distracted by the urgent needs of another horse in her care. This was not a case of absent-mindedness. Rather it was a lack of care arising from a legitimate distraction.

For these reasons the committee adopts the starting point of $500 as proposed but gives credit for these mitigating matters in the amount of $100.

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: 46a25c3eeec8230c1d43a399d5fca3c8


informantnumber: A7754


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Incorrect saddling


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 30/11/2015


hearing_title: Otago RC 29 November 2015 - R 1 - Chair, Mr D Jackson


charge:


facts:

Following the running of Race 1, the Speargrass Inn/Cromwell Transport Maiden 2030, an information was lodged by Stipendiary Steward, Mr M Davidson, alleging licensed trainers, D Champion and K Murphy were in breach of Rule 614(2) that they “… presented Bobby Al to the inspection area without its lead bag and in doing so were neglectful in regards to the saddling of this horse…”.

Ms Murphy admitted the charge and appeared at the hearing.

Mr Davidson stated that the plate inspector identified in the inspection area that the lead bag had not been placed in the saddle in the stable area when the horse was being saddled.

Ms Murphy admitted that she had saddled Bobby Al and had forgotten to attach the lead bag. Fortunately, the plate inspector picked up that the bag was missing.

Ms Murphy explained that when she was saddling Bobby Al she had been distracted by one of her horses which had cut its mouth open on a chain and which needed urgent attention including removal of the chain from the horse’s mouth and bandaging (all carried out by Ms Murphy). Distracted Ms Murphy forgot to attach the lead bag as required. Ms Murphy acknowledged that this was not an excuse and was otherwise apologetic and accepting that she had neglected to saddle Bobby Al properly.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

Ms Murphy admitted the charge and it is found proved.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Davidson stated that Ms Murphy had no recorded breaches under this or any other rule, and had admitted the breach without question. He noted that previous breaches of the rule where the error had been found at inspection were $500 fines.

Ms Murphy stated that she admitted the charge, it was her first offence under the Rules, she understood the significance of the rule and accepted that a fine was inevitable.


reasonsforpenalty:

The starting point in the penalty guideline is $500. There are no aggravating features present. There are significant mitigating features present however including Ms Murphy’s clean record, her insight and remorse, her co-operation with the stewards, her guilty plea and most significantly in our view her being distracted by the urgent needs of another horse in her care. This was not a case of absent-mindedness. Rather it was a lack of care arising from a legitimate distraction.

For these reasons the committee adopts the starting point of $500 as proposed but gives credit for these mitigating matters in the amount of $100.


penalty:

Ms Murphy is fined $400 and reminded of her obligations under the Rules of Thoroughbred Racing New Zealand.


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: 614(2)


Informant: Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: D Champion and K Murphy - Licensed Trainers


Otherperson:


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: 3b4fc64d44b44fa58c6762bf45ec2f5d


race_expapproval:


racecancelled: 0


race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R 1


submittochair:


race_expappcomment:


race_km:


race_otherexp:


race_chair:


race_pm1:


race_pm2:


meetid: 045e8d89a0eaba0ff8a53b12930dd974


meet_expapproval:


meet_noreport: 0


waitingforpublication: 0


meet_emailed1: 0


meet_emailed2: 0


meetdate: 29/11/2015


meet_title: Otago RC - 29 November 2015


meet_expappcomment:


meet_km:


meet_otherexp:


tracklocation: otago-rc


meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing


meet_chair: DJackson


meet_pm1: GHall


meet_pm2: none


name: Otago RC