Archive Decision

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Waikato RC 7 February 2015 – R 1

ID: JCA18230

Applicant:
Mr J Oatham - Senior Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
Mr V Colgan - Licensed Jockey

Other Person:
Mr A Coles - Stipendiary Steward

Information Number:
A6879

Hearing Type:
Hearing

New Charge:
Careless Riding

Rules:
638(1)(d)

Plea:
admitted

Code:
Thoroughbred

Meet Title:
Waikato RC - 7 February 2015

Meet Chair:
ADooley

Meet Committee Member 1:
AGodsalve

Race Date:
2015/02/07

Race Number:
R1

Decision:

As Mr Colgan admitted the breach we find the charge proved.

Penalty:

We grant Mr Colgan’s request to seek a deferment to his suspension as per Rule 1106(2).

Accordingly, Mr Colgan had his license to ride in races suspended for a period to commence after racing on 14 February and conclude after racing on 22 February 2015 (5 North Island days).

Facts:

Following the running of race 1, The Edge 97.8 Waikato 1600, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (1)(d). The Informant, Mr Oatham, alleged that Mr Colgan angled his mount FULL COUNT outwards approaching the 400 metres when there was insufficient room to do so making contact with MATO GROSSO.

Mr Colgan acknowledged that he understood the nature of the charge, the Rule and confirmed his admission of the breach.

Rule 638(1) (d) provides: A Rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Judicial Committee considers to be careless.

Mr Coles identified on the head – on video film that near the 400 metres Mr Colgan intended to go for a run on the inside of MATO GROSSO. He showed on the film that there was clearly no room to improve into that position. This resulted in FULL COUNT making contact with the hind quarters of MATO GROSSO. He added the outward shift went on for some distance resulting in a further 2 points of contact between the 2 horses.

Mr Colgan agreed that the first point of contact on the turn was his fault. However, he said Mr Hannam the rider of MATO GROSSO was also riding competitively at the time of the incident.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Oatham produced Mr Colgan’s record which showed 1 previous breach under this Rule in the last 12 months. He described this as a good record. He believed Mr Colgan had crossed the line between competitive and careless and assessed this breach in the low to mid - range. Mr Oatham submitted a suspension of 4 or 5 days would be appropriate.

Mr Colgan advised that he had upcoming engagements at Ellerslie on 14 February, and sought a deferment to any proposed suspension. He accepted there was a fine line between competitive and careless riding. He added the incident resulted in a fair bit of jostling.

Reasons for Penalty:

The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented. We have adopted 5 riding days as the starting point in considering the term of suspension. The mitigating factors are Mr Colgan’s admission of the breach and his very good record in relation to this Rule. We assess the level of carelessness as mid – range because Mr Colgan forced a run when there was no run available to him. This resulted in buffeting between the 2 horses for some distance and Mr Colgan was never the required distance clear of Mr Hannam.

After taking into account all the above factors we consider an appropriate penalty is a 5 day suspension.

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: feb3d3cea0ca736f5b7cc52a93da03ad


informantnumber: A6879


horsename:


hearing_racingtype:


startdate: no date provided


newcharge: Careless Riding


plea: admitted


penaltyrequired: 1


decisiondate: 01/02/2015


hearing_title: Waikato RC 7 February 2015 - R 1


charge:


facts:

Following the running of race 1, The Edge 97.8 Waikato 1600, an Information was filed pursuant to Rule 638 (1)(d). The Informant, Mr Oatham, alleged that Mr Colgan angled his mount FULL COUNT outwards approaching the 400 metres when there was insufficient room to do so making contact with MATO GROSSO.

Mr Colgan acknowledged that he understood the nature of the charge, the Rule and confirmed his admission of the breach.

Rule 638(1) (d) provides: A Rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Judicial Committee considers to be careless.

Mr Coles identified on the head – on video film that near the 400 metres Mr Colgan intended to go for a run on the inside of MATO GROSSO. He showed on the film that there was clearly no room to improve into that position. This resulted in FULL COUNT making contact with the hind quarters of MATO GROSSO. He added the outward shift went on for some distance resulting in a further 2 points of contact between the 2 horses.

Mr Colgan agreed that the first point of contact on the turn was his fault. However, he said Mr Hannam the rider of MATO GROSSO was also riding competitively at the time of the incident.


appealdecision:


isappeal:


submissionsfordecision:


reasonsfordecision:


Decision:

As Mr Colgan admitted the breach we find the charge proved.


sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Oatham produced Mr Colgan’s record which showed 1 previous breach under this Rule in the last 12 months. He described this as a good record. He believed Mr Colgan had crossed the line between competitive and careless and assessed this breach in the low to mid - range. Mr Oatham submitted a suspension of 4 or 5 days would be appropriate.

Mr Colgan advised that he had upcoming engagements at Ellerslie on 14 February, and sought a deferment to any proposed suspension. He accepted there was a fine line between competitive and careless riding. He added the incident resulted in a fair bit of jostling.


reasonsforpenalty:

The Committee carefully considered all the evidence and submissions presented. We have adopted 5 riding days as the starting point in considering the term of suspension. The mitigating factors are Mr Colgan’s admission of the breach and his very good record in relation to this Rule. We assess the level of carelessness as mid – range because Mr Colgan forced a run when there was no run available to him. This resulted in buffeting between the 2 horses for some distance and Mr Colgan was never the required distance clear of Mr Hannam.

After taking into account all the above factors we consider an appropriate penalty is a 5 day suspension.


penalty:

We grant Mr Colgan’s request to seek a deferment to his suspension as per Rule 1106(2).

Accordingly, Mr Colgan had his license to ride in races suspended for a period to commence after racing on 14 February and conclude after racing on 22 February 2015 (5 North Island days).


hearing_type: Hearing


Rules: 638(1)(d)


Informant: Mr J Oatham - Senior Stipendiary Steward


JockeysandTrainer: Mr V Colgan - Licensed Jockey


Otherperson: Mr A Coles - Stipendiary Steward


PersonPresent:


Respondent:


StipendSteward:


raceid: 958752489a38d1fb891007172b203a01


race_expapproval:


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race_noreport: 0


race_emailed1: 0


race_emailed2: 0


race_title: R1


submittochair:


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meetid: d9275b8bfe8bdae0ed78d69f57d59e99


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meet_noreport: 0


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meetdate: 07/02/2015


meet_title: Waikato RC - 7 February 2015


meet_expappcomment:


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tracklocation: waikato-rc


meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing


meet_chair: ADooley


meet_pm1: AGodsalve


meet_pm2: none


name: Waikato RC