Rangiora HRC 14 August 2011 – R 9
ID: JCA15640
Meet Title:
Rangiora HRC - 14 August 2011
Meet Chair:
JPhelan
Meet Committee Member 1:
KHales
Race Date:
2011/08/14
Race Number:
R9
Decision:
The charge was found to be proved.
Penalty:
Mr Forrester was fined the sum of $75-00.
Charge:
Alleged late notification of driver
Facts:
Stipendiary Steward Mrs K. R. Williams filed an information against Licensed Trainer Mr R. J. Forrester alleging a breach of the Notification of Drivers Regulation. It was alleged that Mr Forrester, the trainer of “Load Of Fun” (5), which started in Race 9, the Canterbury Breeders – Joan Belcher Legacy Mobile Pace, failed to notify a driver by the required time.
The charge reads as follows.
“I the abovenamed informant allege that the abovenamed Defendant committed a breach of the Drivers Notification Reg. in that trainer R. Forrester was late notifying a driver for Load Of Fun.”
The Notification of Drivers Regulation provides as follows.
“The following regulation is made by the Executive pursuant to the Rules of Harness Racing. It shall be a condition of acceptance for starting in every race at any club’s race meeting, and expressly provided in the programme of such meeting, that every person who enters a horse for a race shall, not later than 1.00pm two days prior to the meeting, except for Sunday which is three days prior, notify the secretary of the club the name of the driver engaged to drive any horse in the said races which is: (a) Having its first start at a meeting on which the totalisator operates, or (b) In any case where the driver is changed from the person who drove the horse at its preceding start unless otherwise exempted by the Executive".
Submissions for Decision:
Mrs Williams gave evidence that a driver for “Load Of Fun” should have been notified by 1-00pm on Thursday 11 August 2011, but that notification was not received until 5-10pm on Friday 12 August 2011. At its previous start at Oamaru on 7 August 2011 “Load Of Fun” had been driven by Mr M. J. Williamson who is based in Oamaru.
Mr Forrester gave evidence that he had noticed on Friday that Mr Williamson had been taken off as the listed driver. It was established that Mr Forrester had not been at Oamaru on 7 August 2011, and that no attempt had been made to confirm Mr Williamson as the driver of Load Of Fun” for today’s race.
We adjourned to consider our decision.
Reasons for Decision:
We were satisfied that a trainer has an obligation to confirm that a driver is available for his horse by the required time. Rule 1008 is relevant and provides as follows.
“In the absence of any express provision to the contrary in any proceeding for a breach of these Rules:-
(a) it shall not be necessary for the informant to prove that the defendant or any person intended to commit that or any breach of the Rule; and
(b) any breach of a Rule shall be considered as an offence of strict liability.”
In this case Mr Forrester took no steps to ensure that Mr Williamson was available to take the drive, and as Mr Williamson lives some distance away, it would have been reasonable for Mr Forrester to have done so. We found the charge proved.
Submissions for Penalty:
In relation to penalty Mrs Williams advised that a breach of this Regulation is usually dealt with under the Minor Infringement Notice system where there is a standard $50-00 fine. Mrs Williams submitted that the fine of no less than $50-00 should be imposed in this case.
Mr Forrester had no relevant submissions to make with regards to penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
In considering the matter of an appropriate penalty we took into account that Mr Forrester had no valid defence to this breach. We were satisfied that a fine of $75-00 should be imposed in this case.
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: be868791404d507c2c38813e336753bc
informantnumber: 69071
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: denied
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 14/08/2011
hearing_title: Rangiora HRC 14 August 2011 - R 9
charge:
Alleged late notification of driver
facts:
Stipendiary Steward Mrs K. R. Williams filed an information against Licensed Trainer Mr R. J. Forrester alleging a breach of the Notification of Drivers Regulation. It was alleged that Mr Forrester, the trainer of “Load Of Fun” (5), which started in Race 9, the Canterbury Breeders – Joan Belcher Legacy Mobile Pace, failed to notify a driver by the required time.
The charge reads as follows.
“I the abovenamed informant allege that the abovenamed Defendant committed a breach of the Drivers Notification Reg. in that trainer R. Forrester was late notifying a driver for Load Of Fun.”
The Notification of Drivers Regulation provides as follows.
“The following regulation is made by the Executive pursuant to the Rules of Harness Racing. It shall be a condition of acceptance for starting in every race at any club’s race meeting, and expressly provided in the programme of such meeting, that every person who enters a horse for a race shall, not later than 1.00pm two days prior to the meeting, except for Sunday which is three days prior, notify the secretary of the club the name of the driver engaged to drive any horse in the said races which is: (a) Having its first start at a meeting on which the totalisator operates, or (b) In any case where the driver is changed from the person who drove the horse at its preceding start unless otherwise exempted by the Executive".
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mrs Williams gave evidence that a driver for “Load Of Fun” should have been notified by 1-00pm on Thursday 11 August 2011, but that notification was not received until 5-10pm on Friday 12 August 2011. At its previous start at Oamaru on 7 August 2011 “Load Of Fun” had been driven by Mr M. J. Williamson who is based in Oamaru.
Mr Forrester gave evidence that he had noticed on Friday that Mr Williamson had been taken off as the listed driver. It was established that Mr Forrester had not been at Oamaru on 7 August 2011, and that no attempt had been made to confirm Mr Williamson as the driver of Load Of Fun” for today’s race.
We adjourned to consider our decision.
reasonsfordecision:
We were satisfied that a trainer has an obligation to confirm that a driver is available for his horse by the required time. Rule 1008 is relevant and provides as follows.
“In the absence of any express provision to the contrary in any proceeding for a breach of these Rules:-
(a) it shall not be necessary for the informant to prove that the defendant or any person intended to commit that or any breach of the Rule; and
(b) any breach of a Rule shall be considered as an offence of strict liability.”
In this case Mr Forrester took no steps to ensure that Mr Williamson was available to take the drive, and as Mr Williamson lives some distance away, it would have been reasonable for Mr Forrester to have done so. We found the charge proved.
Decision:
The charge was found to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
In relation to penalty Mrs Williams advised that a breach of this Regulation is usually dealt with under the Minor Infringement Notice system where there is a standard $50-00 fine. Mrs Williams submitted that the fine of no less than $50-00 should be imposed in this case.
Mr Forrester had no relevant submissions to make with regards to penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
In considering the matter of an appropriate penalty we took into account that Mr Forrester had no valid defence to this breach. We were satisfied that a fine of $75-00 should be imposed in this case.
penalty:
Mr Forrester was fined the sum of $75-00.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Notification of Drivers Regulation and Rule 1002(1)(b)
Informant: Mrs K. R. Williams - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr R. J. Forrester - Licensed Trainer
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 5e8311152b04fc732e4099dde2797d1c
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R9
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 625da448ec25fde21219bffe44f89c8c
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 14/08/2011
meet_title: Rangiora HRC - 14 August 2011
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: rangiora-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: JPhelan
meet_pm1: KHales
meet_pm2: none
name: Rangiora HRC