Timaru HRC 17 January 2018 – R 8 – Chair, Mr R McKenzie
ID: JCA11279
Meet Title:
Timaru HRC - 17 January 2018
Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie
Meet Committee Member 1:
GClapp
Race Date:
2018/01/17
Race Number:
R8
Decision:
Mr Whittaker having admitted the charge, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Whittaker was fined the sum of $300.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 8, Night ‘N Day Mobile Pace (Junior Drivers), an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Junior Driver, Mr J K Whittaker, alleging that Mr Whittaker, as the driver of CHRISTIAN WHO in the race, “used his whip when out of contention in the home straight”.
Mr Whittaker was present at the hearing of the information. The Regulation and charge were both read to him and he confirmed that he admitted the breach. He was unassisted at the hearing but informed the Committee that he had earlier sought the advice of Licensed Open Horseman, Mr D J Butt, prior to electing to admit the breach and did not require assistance at the hearing.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use his whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
Those Regulations provide:
(d) No horseman shall apply the whip to a runner which is out of contention for either a stake or dividend bearing place or on any horse which is not responding or unable to hold its position in the race.
Mr Renault showed video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out CHRISTIAN WHO, driven by Mr Whittaker, racing in last position and in a gap in the 13-horse field as the field entered the home straight. The horse broke near the 350 metres, Mr Renault said, and regained its gait near the 250 metres. From that point, Mr Whittaker use his whip on five occasions in the home straight. The horse had broken, was clearly out of contention and should not have been struck with the whip. Stewards believed that this was a bad look, Mr Renault said.
Mr Whittaker accepted that it was not a good look and that he had “done the wrong thing”. His explanation was that the horse had broken for no reason and “half pie pulled up”. He wanted to teach her that she needs to run on and not just stop. The hits were not forceful, he submitted. He was a junior and still learning and does not get a lot of drives, he said.
The Committee made the observation that the first two strikes were delivered with some force, the others not so much. Mr Renault agreed with that observation.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Renault informed the Committee that Mr Whittaker has had 33 lifetime drives – 9 this season, 7 last season. He is in his third season of driving. He has a clear record.
He referred to the penalty guide provided in the Regulations of a fine of $300 and said that Stewards were asking for a fine of that amount.
Mr Whittaker, when asked by the Committee, said that his preference was for a fine over a suspension. However, he submitted that a fine of $300 was “hefty”. He has had only 9 drives so far this season – an average of 1½ drives per month, he said. He was working for his father, basically for his board.
Reasons for Penalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee had regard to the penalty of a $300 fine as prescribed in the Regulations. We believe that that penalty should be departed from only in exceptional circumstances. Mitigating factors, in this case, are Mr Whittaker’s admission of the breach and his previous good record. In addition, we have some sympathy for him as a relatively inexperienced Junior Driver.
However, the breach was at the high end of the scale, in the Committee’s opinion. The horse was racing in a clear last position at the time and completely out of contention. To strike a horse five times with the whip in those circumstances is totally unacceptable. Some frustration on Mr Whittaker’s part is understandable, but it should not be vented in that manner. It was fortunate that the second and subsequent strikes were only visible from the head-on video replay, which may not have been shown on “Trackside”.
The Committee noted that CHRISTIAN WHO finished in last position, in a gap of almost 12 lengths behind the second-to-last runner.
Having regard to all of the above matters, the Committee considered that a fine of $300 was 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: 1434f07da03c326fff950c7328fe7222
informantnumber: A09879
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Whip on Runner out of Contention
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 18/01/2018
hearing_title: Timaru HRC 17 January 2018 - R 8 - Chair, Mr R McKenzie
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 8, Night ‘N Day Mobile Pace (Junior Drivers), an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr S P Renault, against Licensed Junior Driver, Mr J K Whittaker, alleging that Mr Whittaker, as the driver of CHRISTIAN WHO in the race, “used his whip when out of contention in the home straight”.
Mr Whittaker was present at the hearing of the information. The Regulation and charge were both read to him and he confirmed that he admitted the breach. He was unassisted at the hearing but informed the Committee that he had earlier sought the advice of Licensed Open Horseman, Mr D J Butt, prior to electing to admit the breach and did not require assistance at the hearing.
Rule 869 provides as follows:
(2) No horseman shall during any race use his whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.
Those Regulations provide:
(d) No horseman shall apply the whip to a runner which is out of contention for either a stake or dividend bearing place or on any horse which is not responding or unable to hold its position in the race.
Mr Renault showed video replays of the final 400 metres of the race. He pointed out CHRISTIAN WHO, driven by Mr Whittaker, racing in last position and in a gap in the 13-horse field as the field entered the home straight. The horse broke near the 350 metres, Mr Renault said, and regained its gait near the 250 metres. From that point, Mr Whittaker use his whip on five occasions in the home straight. The horse had broken, was clearly out of contention and should not have been struck with the whip. Stewards believed that this was a bad look, Mr Renault said.
Mr Whittaker accepted that it was not a good look and that he had “done the wrong thing”. His explanation was that the horse had broken for no reason and “half pie pulled up”. He wanted to teach her that she needs to run on and not just stop. The hits were not forceful, he submitted. He was a junior and still learning and does not get a lot of drives, he said.
The Committee made the observation that the first two strikes were delivered with some force, the others not so much. Mr Renault agreed with that observation.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
Mr Whittaker having admitted the charge, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Renault informed the Committee that Mr Whittaker has had 33 lifetime drives – 9 this season, 7 last season. He is in his third season of driving. He has a clear record.
He referred to the penalty guide provided in the Regulations of a fine of $300 and said that Stewards were asking for a fine of that amount.
Mr Whittaker, when asked by the Committee, said that his preference was for a fine over a suspension. However, he submitted that a fine of $300 was “hefty”. He has had only 9 drives so far this season – an average of 1½ drives per month, he said. He was working for his father, basically for his board.
reasonsforpenalty:
In determining penalty, the Committee had regard to the penalty of a $300 fine as prescribed in the Regulations. We believe that that penalty should be departed from only in exceptional circumstances. Mitigating factors, in this case, are Mr Whittaker’s admission of the breach and his previous good record. In addition, we have some sympathy for him as a relatively inexperienced Junior Driver.
However, the breach was at the high end of the scale, in the Committee’s opinion. The horse was racing in a clear last position at the time and completely out of contention. To strike a horse five times with the whip in those circumstances is totally unacceptable. Some frustration on Mr Whittaker’s part is understandable, but it should not be vented in that manner. It was fortunate that the second and subsequent strikes were only visible from the head-on video replay, which may not have been shown on “Trackside”.
The Committee noted that CHRISTIAN WHO finished in last position, in a gap of almost 12 lengths behind the second-to-last runner.
Having regard to all of the above matters, the Committee considered that a fine of $300 was an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
Mr Whittaker was fined the sum of $300.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(2) & Use of the Whip Regulations
Informant: Mr S P Renault, Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: J K Whittaker, Licensed Junior Driver
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: c1f58db97f5a28a50f8f0fcbc815b1b2
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R8
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
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meetid: 59bfcc97a4701d309d895c4d9dee48bc
meet_expapproval:
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waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 17/01/2018
meet_title: Timaru HRC - 17 January 2018
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: timaru-hrc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: RMcKenzie
meet_pm1: GClapp
meet_pm2: none
name: Timaru HRC