Taranaki RI 3 November 2017 – R7 – Chair, Mr P Williams
ID: JCA12138
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Taranaki RC - 3 November 2017
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
TBird
Race Date:
2017/11/03
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
Penalty:
Facts:
Following the running of race 7, the “C & C Autos 1800”, Information A7382 was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr B Jones under Rule 802(1)(a). The information stated “that (Class C Trainer Ms G Hayward) failed to comply with a NZTR Directive that horses must be presented on course in the tie up stall area by one hour prior to the horse’s race”.
Ms Hayward signed the Information admitting the breach.
At the beginning of the hearing the Committee was advised that in the presence of Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr Oatham, Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones and Racing Investigator, Mr Irving Ms Hayward had signed the Information confirming she admitted the breach and also indicated she did not want to attend the hearing.
Rule 802(1)(a) provides: A person commits a breach of these Rules who:
“Acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision of these Rules or any Regulations made thereunder, or any policy, notice, direction, instruction, guideline, restriction, requirement or condition given, made or imposed under these Rules”
Also relevant is an NZTR Directive effective 1 August 2009 headed “NZTR Directive – Presenting Horses Oncourse”. An extract from that Directive states:-
“At the 6 July 2009 Board meeting, the Board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing considered and issued the following Directive:-
Effective 1 August 2009 – Trainers must ensure that they present their horse(s) in the tie-up stalls/saddling area no later than one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the horse’s race. The Directive has been issued for the following reasons:-
• For Integrity purposes, to assist with the monitoring of horses prior to racing
• Assist with any pre-race testing that may be undertaken prior to their race
• Ensure horses are presented on course in time to compete"
Submissions for Decision:
Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones said that following the running of Race 6 (which was timed to start at 6.02pm) Stipendiary Steward, Mr Robinson had observed Ms Hayward leading her horse “Call Doubt” from her on-course barn down to the tie up stalls. Mr Jones said Mr Robinson had advised him the horse was fully saddled for its race – Race 7 – which was timed to start at 6.39pm. Mr Jones said that Ms Hayward was therefore in breach of the NZTR Directive quoted above in that her horse was not in the tie-up stalls/saddling area no later than one hour prior to the advertised starting time of Race 7. Mr Jones added that Ms Hayward had received a warning from Mr Robinson during the 30 September 2017 meeting held on the course for a similar failure to comply with the above Directive, the detail of which had been explained to her at that time.
To a question from the Committee it was confirmed that a record of that warning was not recorded in the Stipendiary Stewards report for the 30 September race meeting.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Jones said there were a number of “integrity issues” behind the Directive. He said the concept of a “level playing field” was important. He said many trainers had to travel a considerable distance to attend race meetings but were still required to have their horses presented in the tie-up stalls/saddling area no later than one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the race. Any horse allowed the freedom of staying in their own barn until (in this case) only approximately 25-30 minutes before racing could be perceived as gaining an unfair over others in the race who had travelled to the races and been present in the tie-up stall/saddling area for the 60 minutes prior to race time.
Mr Jones said there was a precedent for today’s charge with Class A trainer, Mr Sargent having been found in breach of the same Directive at Matamata on 19 May 2010 and fined $550. Reference was also made to a charge brought against licensed trainer, Mr Freeman at Winton on 21 November 2012 when he was late arriving on course and fined $200.
Mr Jones concluded by saying that it was the submission of the Stewards a fine in the region of $200 - $300 was an appropriate penalty to be imposed on Ms Hayward.
Reasons for Penalty:
The JCA Penalty Guideline do not state a starting point penalty for a breach of this specific rule and therefore the penalty to be imposed is "fact dependant".
The Committee has considered all the evidence and submissions provided by the RIU. The 2009 Directive was issued to ensure that trainers with horses racing on their home track do not gain an unfair advantage over other trainers with horses in the same race through not having their horses in the tie-up or saddling hour an hour before they are due to race. To not meet that deadline can also impact on officials undertaking any pre-race testing they may wish to undertake. The Committee notes that Ms Hayward was warned about the same behaviour at the last meeting on this course on 30 September but clearly chose to ignore the warning and today presented her horse in the required area only approximately 25-30 minutes before the start of Race 7.
The Committee is aware of both the previous cases detailed by the Stewards. The case of Mr Sargent is almost identical to today’s case whereas the case of Mr Freeman is not as relevant because he was very late on course due to transport problems which required his horse to be late scratched. The penalty imposed on Mr Sargent recognised he was a Class A Trainer and the Committee notes the comments of Mr Oatham that the issue of Matamata based trainers saddling their horses on race day in their own barns had been well canvassed at the time with those trainers and clear messages given that the practice had to cease. The Committee also notes, for completeness, a similar recent case in the Harness Code when a senior and experienced trainer was fined $400 for not having their horse in the official stabling area within the prescribed time.
Ms Hayward is a Class C trainer and has very few horses in work. She has chosen to ignore a warning she was given only a month ago not to saddle up her horse in her barn on the race course but to present her horse in the required area as required by the 2009 “Presenting Horses Oncourse” Directive. Any penalty given must act as a deterrent to her and others and emphasise the importance the RIU places on trainers to comply with that Directive.
The Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty.
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: 372b0654bc71d43451ee2c8e42bdf695
informantnumber: A7328
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Fail to comply with NZTR Directive
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 04/11/2017
hearing_title: Taranaki RI 3 November 2017 - R7 - Chair, Mr P Williams
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 7, the “C & C Autos 1800”, Information A7382 was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr B Jones under Rule 802(1)(a). The information stated “that (Class C Trainer Ms G Hayward) failed to comply with a NZTR Directive that horses must be presented on course in the tie up stall area by one hour prior to the horse’s race”.
Ms Hayward signed the Information admitting the breach.
At the beginning of the hearing the Committee was advised that in the presence of Chief Stipendiary Steward, Mr Oatham, Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones and Racing Investigator, Mr Irving Ms Hayward had signed the Information confirming she admitted the breach and also indicated she did not want to attend the hearing.
Rule 802(1)(a) provides: A person commits a breach of these Rules who:
“Acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision of these Rules or any Regulations made thereunder, or any policy, notice, direction, instruction, guideline, restriction, requirement or condition given, made or imposed under these Rules”
Also relevant is an NZTR Directive effective 1 August 2009 headed “NZTR Directive – Presenting Horses Oncourse”. An extract from that Directive states:-
“At the 6 July 2009 Board meeting, the Board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing considered and issued the following Directive:-
Effective 1 August 2009 – Trainers must ensure that they present their horse(s) in the tie-up stalls/saddling area no later than one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the horse’s race. The Directive has been issued for the following reasons:-
• For Integrity purposes, to assist with the monitoring of horses prior to racing
• Assist with any pre-race testing that may be undertaken prior to their race
• Ensure horses are presented on course in time to compete"
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones said that following the running of Race 6 (which was timed to start at 6.02pm) Stipendiary Steward, Mr Robinson had observed Ms Hayward leading her horse “Call Doubt” from her on-course barn down to the tie up stalls. Mr Jones said Mr Robinson had advised him the horse was fully saddled for its race – Race 7 – which was timed to start at 6.39pm. Mr Jones said that Ms Hayward was therefore in breach of the NZTR Directive quoted above in that her horse was not in the tie-up stalls/saddling area no later than one hour prior to the advertised starting time of Race 7. Mr Jones added that Ms Hayward had received a warning from Mr Robinson during the 30 September 2017 meeting held on the course for a similar failure to comply with the above Directive, the detail of which had been explained to her at that time.
To a question from the Committee it was confirmed that a record of that warning was not recorded in the Stipendiary Stewards report for the 30 September race meeting.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Jones said there were a number of “integrity issues” behind the Directive. He said the concept of a “level playing field” was important. He said many trainers had to travel a considerable distance to attend race meetings but were still required to have their horses presented in the tie-up stalls/saddling area no later than one hour prior to the advertised starting time of the race. Any horse allowed the freedom of staying in their own barn until (in this case) only approximately 25-30 minutes before racing could be perceived as gaining an unfair over others in the race who had travelled to the races and been present in the tie-up stall/saddling area for the 60 minutes prior to race time.
Mr Jones said there was a precedent for today’s charge with Class A trainer, Mr Sargent having been found in breach of the same Directive at Matamata on 19 May 2010 and fined $550. Reference was also made to a charge brought against licensed trainer, Mr Freeman at Winton on 21 November 2012 when he was late arriving on course and fined $200.
Mr Jones concluded by saying that it was the submission of the Stewards a fine in the region of $200 - $300 was an appropriate penalty to be imposed on Ms Hayward.
reasonsforpenalty:
The JCA Penalty Guideline do not state a starting point penalty for a breach of this specific rule and therefore the penalty to be imposed is "fact dependant".
The Committee has considered all the evidence and submissions provided by the RIU. The 2009 Directive was issued to ensure that trainers with horses racing on their home track do not gain an unfair advantage over other trainers with horses in the same race through not having their horses in the tie-up or saddling hour an hour before they are due to race. To not meet that deadline can also impact on officials undertaking any pre-race testing they may wish to undertake. The Committee notes that Ms Hayward was warned about the same behaviour at the last meeting on this course on 30 September but clearly chose to ignore the warning and today presented her horse in the required area only approximately 25-30 minutes before the start of Race 7.
The Committee is aware of both the previous cases detailed by the Stewards. The case of Mr Sargent is almost identical to today’s case whereas the case of Mr Freeman is not as relevant because he was very late on course due to transport problems which required his horse to be late scratched. The penalty imposed on Mr Sargent recognised he was a Class A Trainer and the Committee notes the comments of Mr Oatham that the issue of Matamata based trainers saddling their horses on race day in their own barns had been well canvassed at the time with those trainers and clear messages given that the practice had to cease. The Committee also notes, for completeness, a similar recent case in the Harness Code when a senior and experienced trainer was fined $400 for not having their horse in the official stabling area within the prescribed time.
Ms Hayward is a Class C trainer and has very few horses in work. She has chosen to ignore a warning she was given only a month ago not to saddle up her horse in her barn on the race course but to present her horse in the required area as required by the 2009 “Presenting Horses Oncourse” Directive. Any penalty given must act as a deterrent to her and others and emphasise the importance the RIU places on trainers to comply with that Directive.
The Committee believes on this occasion a fine is an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 802(1)(a)
Informant: Mr B Jones - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Ms G Hayward - Licensed Class C Trainer
Otherperson: Mr J Oatham - Chief Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 3433901809f6b8fe4a2adaee0afd3dea
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R7
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 570ae0eb5b156749da8f944ca7fcc2c9
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 03/11/2017
meet_title: Taranaki RC - 3 November 2017
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: taranaki-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: TBird
meet_pm2: none
name: Taranaki RC