Waikato BOP H 5 December 2019 – R 7 – Chair, Mr A Godsalve
ID: JCA15584
Meet Title:
Harness Racing Waikato - 5 December 2019
Meet Chair:
AGodsalve
Meet Committee Member 1:
BScott
Race Date:
2019/12/05
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
As Mr Whittaker has admitted the breach we find the charge established.
Penalty:
The Committee granted Mr Whittaker a deferment of his penalty until after racing on 10 December 2019.
We therefore suspended his driving license until after the completion of racing on 10 December until after the completion of racing on 14 December 2019, a 3 day suspension.
Facts:
Following the running of Race 7, the Black Dog Furniture Handicap Trot 2200m Mr Mulcay lodged an Information in which he alleged that Junior Driver Mr L Whittaker:
'used his whip on more occasions than permitted under clause (b) of the Use Of The Whip Regulations driving LUKYANOVA inside the final 400 metres'.
Mr Whittaker was present at the hearing. He acknowledged that he had earlier viewed the film of the incident in the company of Open Horseman Mr S Phelan, and confirmed that:
(a) He understood the Rule and Regulations, and
(b) He admitted the breach.
Rule 869(2) provides ; 'No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use Of The Whip Regulations made by the Board'.
The Use Of The Whip Regulations (b) state that 'No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than 10 occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of 'backhanders' and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky'.
Using the films Mr Mulcay identified the horse LUKYANOVA as the field entered the final straight. LUKYANOVA was mounting a challenge for the lead and initially Mr Mulcay pointed out that Mr Whittaker had 'flicked' the horse twice with his whip which Mr Mulcay said he did consider to be strikes. However further into the straight Mr Whittaker commenced striking the horse and hit it 13 times until the finish. LUKYANOVA eventually won the race.
Mr Whittaker agreed that he had struck the horse 13 times. He said that he was a ' bit excited' as he had not driven a winner for some time and also that he knew the elderly owners and was trying hard for them.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Mulcay referred to one prior breach of this Rule by Mr Whittaker, when on 5 September 2019 he was fined $200. He added that under the existing Guidelines, Mr Whittaker would be liable to a suspension of his drivers license.
Mr Whittaker advised the Committee that he had engagements at the upcoming Palmerston North meeting on 10 December and could commence a suspension after that meeting.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee established that the Guidelines provided a suspension where a driver had a prior breach of this Rule within the preceding 6 months. Mr Whittaker had breached the Rule on 5 September 2019, and was therefore liable to a suspension of between 3-5 days.
Given that the number of strikes (13) was at the lower end of the sliding scale we deemed that a suspension of 3 days 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: b76dd1b42190ce8bc8d7381ce4013491
informantnumber: A12217
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 07/12/2019
hearing_title: Waikato BOP H 5 December 2019 - R 7 - Chair, Mr A Godsalve
charge:
facts:
Following the running of Race 7, the Black Dog Furniture Handicap Trot 2200m Mr Mulcay lodged an Information in which he alleged that Junior Driver Mr L Whittaker:
'used his whip on more occasions than permitted under clause (b) of the Use Of The Whip Regulations driving LUKYANOVA inside the final 400 metres'.
Mr Whittaker was present at the hearing. He acknowledged that he had earlier viewed the film of the incident in the company of Open Horseman Mr S Phelan, and confirmed that:
(a) He understood the Rule and Regulations, and
(b) He admitted the breach.
Rule 869(2) provides ; 'No horseman shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use Of The Whip Regulations made by the Board'.
The Use Of The Whip Regulations (b) state that 'No horseman is permitted to use their whip in a striking motion on more than 10 occasions inside the final 400 metres. This is inclusive of 'backhanders' and the use applies to the horse, harness and/or sulky'.
Using the films Mr Mulcay identified the horse LUKYANOVA as the field entered the final straight. LUKYANOVA was mounting a challenge for the lead and initially Mr Mulcay pointed out that Mr Whittaker had 'flicked' the horse twice with his whip which Mr Mulcay said he did consider to be strikes. However further into the straight Mr Whittaker commenced striking the horse and hit it 13 times until the finish. LUKYANOVA eventually won the race.
Mr Whittaker agreed that he had struck the horse 13 times. He said that he was a ' bit excited' as he had not driven a winner for some time and also that he knew the elderly owners and was trying hard for them.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Whittaker has admitted the breach we find the charge established.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Mulcay referred to one prior breach of this Rule by Mr Whittaker, when on 5 September 2019 he was fined $200. He added that under the existing Guidelines, Mr Whittaker would be liable to a suspension of his drivers license.
Mr Whittaker advised the Committee that he had engagements at the upcoming Palmerston North meeting on 10 December and could commence a suspension after that meeting.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee established that the Guidelines provided a suspension where a driver had a prior breach of this Rule within the preceding 6 months. Mr Whittaker had breached the Rule on 5 September 2019, and was therefore liable to a suspension of between 3-5 days.
Given that the number of strikes (13) was at the lower end of the sliding scale we deemed that a suspension of 3 days was an appropriate penalty.
penalty:
The Committee granted Mr Whittaker a deferment of his penalty until after racing on 10 December 2019.
We therefore suspended his driving license until after the completion of racing on 10 December until after the completion of racing on 14 December 2019, a 3 day suspension.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: Rule 869(2)
Informant: Mr S Mulcay - Senior Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr L Whittaker - Junior Driver
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: fa13240f623d98d728255d3e9fd4fc03
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: ee25cfaa96727e6c923c8047a53a753e
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 05/12/2019
meet_title: Harness Racing Waikato - 5 December 2019
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: harness-racing-waikato
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: AGodsalve
meet_pm1: BScott
meet_pm2: none
name: Harness Racing Waikato