Thames JC 3 January 2020 – R 5 – Chair, G Jones
ID: JCA17819
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Thames JC - 3 January 2020
Meet Chair:
GJones
Meet Committee Member 1:
ASmith
Race Date:
2020/01/03
Race Number:
R5
Decision:
As Mr Harris admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
Penalty:
Mr Harris is fined $300.
Facts:
This charge arises from race 5, the Thames Harness Racing Club 100 Years 1600. The Informant, Mr Coles filed an Information pursuant to Rule 330(3)(c) alleging that Mr Harris failed to make the contracted weight for ALFA ROSSO.
Mr Harris was not present at the meeting, but Mr Coles advised the Committee, on behalf of Mr Harris that he admitted the breach and is familiar with the nature of the charge. The Information was endorsed to that effect.
Rule 330(3)(c) provides: “A rider shall not fail to ride a horse at the weight at which it is handicapped to carry”.
Mr Coles advised that at approximately 6.45 am, prior to the commencement of the Thames JC meeting he was contacted by trainer Mr J Richards on behalf of Mr Harris who said that he was unable to make the contracted weight of 58.5 kgs for ALFA ROSSO in race 5, due to being in excess of 1 kg over the horses handicapped weight.
Mr Coles said that he was replaced by senior rider, Mr J Waddell.
As Mr Harris did not appear, no explanation for the breach was offered.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Coles said that this is Mr Harris’ 3rd breach within the 120 day reset period. He said that a charge of this nature would normally be dealt with by way of Minor Infringement Notice (MIN), however, given this is his 3rd breach Stewards elected to proceed by way of an Information.
Although Mr Harris was not present at the hearing we were advised that during his pre-charge interview he told Stewards that he appreciates he must make a more concerted effort to stabilise his weight and would prefer a fine as opposed to a suspension.
Reasons for Penalty:
The MIN schedule establishes a $200 fine as the starting point for a 2nd breach of this rule. Subsequent breaches within the 120 day reset period are fact dependant.
The Committee considered the submissions and for consistency took some guidance from previous penalties for similar breaches.
In the Committee's assessment we took into account the fact that this is Mr Harris’ 3rd breach; and significantly this is his 2nd breach within 8 days and 3rd within 4 weeks. Further, the Connections were put to the inconvenience of having to find a suitable replacement rider at short notice. We have treated these as aggravating factors.
His previous breach on 26 December 2019 was in relation to his inability to make his contracted weight in a Group 2 race. He was fined $350 after the Committee applied an uplift in recognition of the status of the race.
Although Mr Harris advised Stewards prior to the commencement of the meeting; and he admitted the breach, we apply no credit for his admission. It is fortunate that Mr Harris only had one riding engagement at the meeting; he advised Stewards early and a replacement rider found.
To avoid a reoccurrence we urge Mr Harris gets his weight under control before accepting any future engagements. We do not under-estimate that this will be a challenge for Mr Harris given his history with weight control. Further he needs to make the effort to give Connections some confidence, when they engage him, that he will be able to meet the contracted weight.
Given the circumstance and balancing the interests of Mr Harris, other stakeholders and consistency we determined that 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: f1b43f032ccebde039781c7fee60d9fd
informantnumber: A11295
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Unable to make contracted weight
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 03/01/2020
hearing_title: Thames JC 3 January 2020 – R 5 – Chair, G Jones
charge:
facts:
This charge arises from race 5, the Thames Harness Racing Club 100 Years 1600. The Informant, Mr Coles filed an Information pursuant to Rule 330(3)(c) alleging that Mr Harris failed to make the contracted weight for ALFA ROSSO.
Mr Harris was not present at the meeting, but Mr Coles advised the Committee, on behalf of Mr Harris that he admitted the breach and is familiar with the nature of the charge. The Information was endorsed to that effect.
Rule 330(3)(c) provides: “A rider shall not fail to ride a horse at the weight at which it is handicapped to carry”.
Mr Coles advised that at approximately 6.45 am, prior to the commencement of the Thames JC meeting he was contacted by trainer Mr J Richards on behalf of Mr Harris who said that he was unable to make the contracted weight of 58.5 kgs for ALFA ROSSO in race 5, due to being in excess of 1 kg over the horses handicapped weight.
Mr Coles said that he was replaced by senior rider, Mr J Waddell.
As Mr Harris did not appear, no explanation for the breach was offered.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Harris admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Coles said that this is Mr Harris’ 3rd breach within the 120 day reset period. He said that a charge of this nature would normally be dealt with by way of Minor Infringement Notice (MIN), however, given this is his 3rd breach Stewards elected to proceed by way of an Information.
Although Mr Harris was not present at the hearing we were advised that during his pre-charge interview he told Stewards that he appreciates he must make a more concerted effort to stabilise his weight and would prefer a fine as opposed to a suspension.
reasonsforpenalty:
The MIN schedule establishes a $200 fine as the starting point for a 2nd breach of this rule. Subsequent breaches within the 120 day reset period are fact dependant.
The Committee considered the submissions and for consistency took some guidance from previous penalties for similar breaches.
In the Committee's assessment we took into account the fact that this is Mr Harris’ 3rd breach; and significantly this is his 2nd breach within 8 days and 3rd within 4 weeks. Further, the Connections were put to the inconvenience of having to find a suitable replacement rider at short notice. We have treated these as aggravating factors.
His previous breach on 26 December 2019 was in relation to his inability to make his contracted weight in a Group 2 race. He was fined $350 after the Committee applied an uplift in recognition of the status of the race.
Although Mr Harris advised Stewards prior to the commencement of the meeting; and he admitted the breach, we apply no credit for his admission. It is fortunate that Mr Harris only had one riding engagement at the meeting; he advised Stewards early and a replacement rider found.
To avoid a reoccurrence we urge Mr Harris gets his weight under control before accepting any future engagements. We do not under-estimate that this will be a challenge for Mr Harris given his history with weight control. Further he needs to make the effort to give Connections some confidence, when they engage him, that he will be able to meet the contracted weight.
Given the circumstance and balancing the interests of Mr Harris, other stakeholders and consistency we determined that a fine is an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
Mr Harris is fined $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 330(3)(c)
Informant: Mr A Coles - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr T Harris - Class A Rider
Otherperson: Mr B Jones - Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: f3d36cec61c9253693a15aee9e756afc
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: bb19a11a05997b7654f65f29fcbb6a13
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 03/01/2020
meet_title: Thames JC - 3 January 2020
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: thames-jc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: GJones
meet_pm1: ASmith
meet_pm2: none
name: Thames JC