Wanganui TC 14 December 2014 – R 7
ID: JCA13067
Meet Title:
Wanganui TC - 14 December 2014
Meet Chair:
PWilliams
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMoffatt
Race Date:
2014/12/14
Race Number:
R7
Decision:
As Ms Matthews admitted the breach it is found proved.
Penalty:
Ms Matthews is fined $200.
Facts:
Following the running of race 7 the “Elders Primary Wool Mobile Pace” Information A6507 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead under Rule 869 (3)(b). The Information stated “horsewoman A Matthews drove “Extreme Carat” carelessly causing interference to “Belle Delight” (A Poutama) with resultant interference to “Concord Lass” with 1500m to run”. Ms Matthews signed the Information admitting the breach and confirmed this at the hearing and also that she understood the Rule.
Rule 869 (3)(b) states:- “No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly”.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Muirhead used the head-on film to identify Ms Matthews running one back and four out soon after the start as the field approached the bend out of the home straight. He said she was following Mr Z Butcher on “Johnny Vegas” who was moving forward to sit parked outside the leader. To the inside of and slightly behind Ms Matthews was Mr Poutama driving “Belle Delight” and to his inside was Mr D Butcher driving “Stars Star”. As Mr Butcher got to his 1 off position Ms Matthews was behind him but because she had two runners inside her things became tight. He said the film showed Ms Matthews taking corrective action to pull her horse away from Mr Poutama but by then the legs of Mr Poutama’s horse had struck the wheel of Mr D Butcher’s sulky causing Mr Poutama’s horse to break. Mr Muirhead said in an earlier conversation with Mr Poutama he confirmed he had called out to Ms Matthews but could not avoid the contact with Mr Butcher’s horse. Mr Muirhead said as Mr Poutama’s horse broke it went back through the field and interfered with “Concord Lass” causing that horse to also break.
Ms Matthews said she thought Mr Poutama had plenty of room to avoid the incident but admitted that “things got tight”. She thought Mr Poutama’s horse contributed to the incident by running in towards Mr Butcher and confirmed she had heard Mr Poutama call out to her as she pulled off but by then it was too late.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Muirhead noted that the JCA Penalty Guidelines state that the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $400 fine or a suspension of 8 drives. He said this was Ms Matthews' first breach of this Rule but did not submit what the stewards thought was an appropriate penalty. He said the severity of the incident was in the mid range given the flow on effects to other runners.
Ms Matthews said she would prefer a suspension and that she would normally only have 1 drive at any meeting she attended.
Reasons for Penalty:
The Committee has reviewed the films of the first 300m of the race. The head-on film gives the best view of incident and shows Ms Matthews behind and following Mr Z Butcher across towards the running rail. Whilst Mr Butcher ended up parked outside the leader Ms Matthews had two runners to her inside and this caused tightening to Mr Poutama immediately to her inside. Whilst she pulled off as soon as she heard Mr Poutama call out by then Mr Poutama was in some difficulty which resulted in his horse clipping the sulky wheel of the horse on his inside and breaking. In doing so, as he went back through the field he caused interference to another runner which also broke.
The Committee believes emphasis needs to be placed on measuring the degree of carelessness exhibited by Ms Matthews and we believe it is at the low level notwithstanding the consequential effects of Mr Poutama breaking. The Committee also notes Ms Matthews admitted the breach and that this is her first breach of the careless driving Rule.
The JCA’s Penalty Guidelines state a starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $400 fine or an 8 drive suspension. However, a review of recent penalties for similar breaches shows a range of penalties have been given to drivers who have not previously breached this Rule with a fine of $250 or less having been given in the majority of cases.
The Committee has noted Ms Matthews said she would prefer a suspension to a fine. However, on this occasion we believe a fine is a more appropriate penalty and that it should be as consistent as possible with previous penalties given to “first time offenders”.
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: 3cfd6f8e00852e7b9583752920af009f
informantnumber: A6507
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Careless Driving
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 13/12/2014
hearing_title: Wanganui TC 14 December 2014 - R 7
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 7 the “Elders Primary Wool Mobile Pace” Information A6507 was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr J Muirhead under Rule 869 (3)(b). The Information stated “horsewoman A Matthews drove “Extreme Carat” carelessly causing interference to “Belle Delight” (A Poutama) with resultant interference to “Concord Lass” with 1500m to run”. Ms Matthews signed the Information admitting the breach and confirmed this at the hearing and also that she understood the Rule.
Rule 869 (3)(b) states:- “No horseman in any race shall drive carelessly”.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Muirhead used the head-on film to identify Ms Matthews running one back and four out soon after the start as the field approached the bend out of the home straight. He said she was following Mr Z Butcher on “Johnny Vegas” who was moving forward to sit parked outside the leader. To the inside of and slightly behind Ms Matthews was Mr Poutama driving “Belle Delight” and to his inside was Mr D Butcher driving “Stars Star”. As Mr Butcher got to his 1 off position Ms Matthews was behind him but because she had two runners inside her things became tight. He said the film showed Ms Matthews taking corrective action to pull her horse away from Mr Poutama but by then the legs of Mr Poutama’s horse had struck the wheel of Mr D Butcher’s sulky causing Mr Poutama’s horse to break. Mr Muirhead said in an earlier conversation with Mr Poutama he confirmed he had called out to Ms Matthews but could not avoid the contact with Mr Butcher’s horse. Mr Muirhead said as Mr Poutama’s horse broke it went back through the field and interfered with “Concord Lass” causing that horse to also break.
Ms Matthews said she thought Mr Poutama had plenty of room to avoid the incident but admitted that “things got tight”. She thought Mr Poutama’s horse contributed to the incident by running in towards Mr Butcher and confirmed she had heard Mr Poutama call out to her as she pulled off but by then it was too late.
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Ms Matthews admitted the breach it is found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Muirhead noted that the JCA Penalty Guidelines state that the starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $400 fine or a suspension of 8 drives. He said this was Ms Matthews' first breach of this Rule but did not submit what the stewards thought was an appropriate penalty. He said the severity of the incident was in the mid range given the flow on effects to other runners.
Ms Matthews said she would prefer a suspension and that she would normally only have 1 drive at any meeting she attended.
reasonsforpenalty:
The Committee has reviewed the films of the first 300m of the race. The head-on film gives the best view of incident and shows Ms Matthews behind and following Mr Z Butcher across towards the running rail. Whilst Mr Butcher ended up parked outside the leader Ms Matthews had two runners to her inside and this caused tightening to Mr Poutama immediately to her inside. Whilst she pulled off as soon as she heard Mr Poutama call out by then Mr Poutama was in some difficulty which resulted in his horse clipping the sulky wheel of the horse on his inside and breaking. In doing so, as he went back through the field he caused interference to another runner which also broke.
The Committee believes emphasis needs to be placed on measuring the degree of carelessness exhibited by Ms Matthews and we believe it is at the low level notwithstanding the consequential effects of Mr Poutama breaking. The Committee also notes Ms Matthews admitted the breach and that this is her first breach of the careless driving Rule.
The JCA’s Penalty Guidelines state a starting point for a breach of this Rule is a $400 fine or an 8 drive suspension. However, a review of recent penalties for similar breaches shows a range of penalties have been given to drivers who have not previously breached this Rule with a fine of $250 or less having been given in the majority of cases.
The Committee has noted Ms Matthews said she would prefer a suspension to a fine. However, on this occasion we believe a fine is a more appropriate penalty and that it should be as consistent as possible with previous penalties given to “first time offenders”.
penalty:
Ms Matthews is fined $200.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 869(3)(b)
Informant: Mr J Muirhead - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Ms A Matthews - Open Horsewoman
Otherperson: Mr R Neal - Co-Chief Stipendiary Steward
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: b739f1a4b033a9d96ca8c4d787ad763d
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race_emailed1: 0
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race_title: R7
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meetdate: 14/12/2014
meet_title: Wanganui TC - 14 December 2014
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meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: wanganui-tc
meet_racingtype: harness-racing
meet_chair: PWilliams
meet_pm1: NMoffatt
meet_pm2: none
name: Wanganui TC