Rangiora HRC 23 July 2017 – R 5 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA11619
Meet Title:
Rangiora HRC - 23 July 2017
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
SChing
Race Date:
2017/07/23
Race Number:
R5
Decision:
Miss Whatuira having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Miss Whatuira was fined the sum of $300.
Facts:
Information No. A09761 filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr L R Tidmarsh, alleges that Miss Whatuira, as the driver of BRIDGET BLUE CHIP in Race 5, Swannanoa Junior Drivers Mobile Pace, she “used her whip in an excessive manner over the concluding 400 metres”.
Miss Whatuira was present at the hearing of the information and she indicated that she admitted the breach. She was assisted at the hearing by Licensed Open Horseman, Mr R D Holmes.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:-
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Mr Tidmarsh showed to the hearing video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out Miss Whatuira, driving BRIDGET BLUE CHIP, improving 3-wide as the field entered the final straight. Soon after entering the home straight, Miss Whatuira activated the removable deafeners and commenced using her whip. From that point, Mr Tidmarsh alleged, Miss Whatuira used her whip, free of the rein, on 12 occasions which was accepted by Miss Whatuira. This was outside the guidelines, Mr Tidmarsh said.
Miss Whatuira declined the opportunity to comment on the video replays.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Tidmarsh showed to the hearing video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out Miss Whatuira, driving BRIDGET BLUE CHIP, improving 3-wide as the field entered the final straight. Soon after entering the home straight, Miss Whatuira activated the removable deafeners and commenced using her whip. From that point, Mr Tidmarsh alleged, Miss Whatuira used her whip, free of the rein, on 12 occasions which was accepted by Miss Whatuira. This was outside the guidelines, Mr Tidmarsh said.
Miss Whatuira declined the opportunity to comment on the video replays.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Tidmarsh informed the Committee that Miss Whatuira is in her first season of driving as a Junior Driver and has had 15 raceday drives before today. She is, therefore, “relatively inexperienced”, he said. She does not appear in the records of the Stewards for any breach.
This breach was in the mid-range because of the quickfire nature of the whip use, twelve strikes in 150 metres, Mr Tidmarsh said. He suggested that Miss Whatuira had perhaps had an “adrenaline rush” thinking she was going to figure in the finish, coupled with her inexperience, he submitted.
Mr Tidmarsh referred the Committee to the Penalty Guide starting point of a $500 fine for a breach of the Rule. Stewards were not seeking a suspension, he said. He submitted that, taking into account Miss Whatuira’s admission of the breach and her clear record, a fine of $300 was appropriate.
Miss Whatuira expressed preference for a penalty of a fine rather than a period of suspension. She did not wish to make any further submission regarding penalty.
Reasons for Penalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee took the Penalty Guide starting point of a $500 fine. We agreed with Mr Tidmarsh’s assessment of the breach as mid-range and this was, therefore, a neutral factor not affecting the starting point. The mitigating factors were Miss Whatuira’s admission of the breach and her previous good record. The Committee was satisfied that those factors together warranted a discount of $200 from the starting point.
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: 2086fffcbe95f17dc3366d7337a3e106
informantnumber: A09761
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Excessive Use of the Whip
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 24/07/2017
hearing_title: Rangiora HRC 23 July 2017 - R 5 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Information No. A09761 filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr L R Tidmarsh, alleges that Miss Whatuira, as the driver of BRIDGET BLUE CHIP in Race 5, Swannanoa Junior Drivers Mobile Pace, she “used her whip in an excessive manner over the concluding 400 metres”.
Miss Whatuira was present at the hearing of the information and she indicated that she admitted the breach. She was assisted at the hearing by Licensed Open Horseman, Mr R D Holmes.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race:-
(a) use his whip in an unnecessary, excessive or improper manner.
The Use of Whip Guidelines (effective from 1 December 2016) provide:
The whip shall not be used more than 10 times in the last 400 metres of a race, otherwise this will be deemed excessive use pursuant to these Guidelines.
Mr Tidmarsh showed to the hearing video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out Miss Whatuira, driving BRIDGET BLUE CHIP, improving 3-wide as the field entered the final straight. Soon after entering the home straight, Miss Whatuira activated the removable deafeners and commenced using her whip. From that point, Mr Tidmarsh alleged, Miss Whatuira used her whip, free of the rein, on 12 occasions which was accepted by Miss Whatuira. This was outside the guidelines, Mr Tidmarsh said.
Miss Whatuira declined the opportunity to comment on the video replays.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Tidmarsh showed to the hearing video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out Miss Whatuira, driving BRIDGET BLUE CHIP, improving 3-wide as the field entered the final straight. Soon after entering the home straight, Miss Whatuira activated the removable deafeners and commenced using her whip. From that point, Mr Tidmarsh alleged, Miss Whatuira used her whip, free of the rein, on 12 occasions which was accepted by Miss Whatuira. This was outside the guidelines, Mr Tidmarsh said.
Miss Whatuira declined the opportunity to comment on the video replays.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Miss Whatuira having admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Tidmarsh informed the Committee that Miss Whatuira is in her first season of driving as a Junior Driver and has had 15 raceday drives before today. She is, therefore, “relatively inexperienced”, he said. She does not appear in the records of the Stewards for any breach.
This breach was in the mid-range because of the quickfire nature of the whip use, twelve strikes in 150 metres, Mr Tidmarsh said. He suggested that Miss Whatuira had perhaps had an “adrenaline rush” thinking she was going to figure in the finish, coupled with her inexperience, he submitted.
Mr Tidmarsh referred the Committee to the Penalty Guide starting point of a $500 fine for a breach of the Rule. Stewards were not seeking a suspension, he said. He submitted that, taking into account Miss Whatuira’s admission of the breach and her clear record, a fine of $300 was appropriate.
Miss Whatuira expressed preference for a penalty of a fine rather than a period of suspension. She did not wish to make any further submission regarding penalty.
reasonsforpenalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee took the Penalty Guide starting point of a $500 fine. We agreed with Mr Tidmarsh’s assessment of the breach as mid-range and this was, therefore, a neutral factor not affecting the starting point. The mitigating factors were Miss Whatuira’s admission of the breach and her previous good record. The Committee was satisfied that those factors together warranted a discount of $200 from the starting point.
penalty:
Miss Whatuira was fined the sum of $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2)(a)
Informant: L R Tidmarsh, Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: S L Whatuira, Licensed Junior Driver
Otherperson: R D Holmes, Licensed Open Horseman
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 4a3cc8da24f5bf19fd197507c4b6b5e8
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R5
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: c54253e0cdeb6f666a39a54d458961ec
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 23/07/2017
meet_title: Rangiora HRC - 23 July 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: rangiora-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: SChing
meet_pm2: none
name: Rangiora HRC