Wellington RC 14 July 2012 – R 6
ID: JCA10579
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Wellington RC - 14 July 2012
Meet Chair:
NMoffatt
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2012/07/14
Race Number:
R 6
Decision:
As the charge was admitted the charge was found to be proved.
Penalty:
Accordingly Mr Phelan was fined the sum of $300.00.
Charge:
Following race 6 an information was lodged by the Stewards alleging a breach of Rule 638(2) in that Shaun Phelan the rider of TOM’S MYTH gave a celebratory gesture prior to passing the finishing post.
Facts:
Mr Oatham showed the side and head-on videos of the final stages of the race which clearly showed Mr Phelan raise his whip two to three strides prior to the finish post.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Oatham told the committee that Mr Phelan had no previous breaches of this rule; he was a young rider recording his most important win to date and the whip had not been raised in an overly extravagant manner. Mr Oatham made reference to the recent case of Mr Cully at Hastings where he was fined the sum of $150.00 for a breach of the same rule and submitted that a fine in the vicinity of $100 - $200 be imposed today. When asked by the committee how the two charges compared Mr Oatham said that he had not seen the video from Hastings but believed it to be similar.
Mr Phelan said he was full of emotion after getting to the end of a long race and submitted that a fine of $150.00 was appropriate using Mr Cully’s breach as an example. He admitted to the committee that he was well aware of the rule and knew it was unacceptable to make any celebratory gesture prior to the finish post.
Reasons for Penalty:
In the time frame prior to delivering the penalty decision Mr Oatham located the video of Mr Cully’s breach at Hastings and played it with all parties present. Both Mr Oatham and Mr Phelan were given the opportunity to comment with both agreeing it was similar to today’s breach although Mr Cully had raised his inside arm, the one without the whip.
The committee, in coming to a decision on penalty, took into account all of the submissions. We referred to the penalty guide which has, as a starting point for this breach, a penalty of $300. In Mr Phelan’s favour were his clear record and his admission of the breach.
Both Mr Oatham and Mr Phelan compared this celebratory gesture with Mr Cully’s recent breach at Hastings. Mr Phelan was in fact the rider who ran second to Mr Cully on that day and was well aware of the rule.
Having the benefit of seeing the video footage of both we were of the opinion that Mr Phelan’s breach was more flamboyant in that he extended his whip to the maximum above his shoulder at least two and possibly three strides prior to the post. Mr Cully did not raise his whip at all; instead he punched his inside arm forward and did so closer to the finishing post. The rule is in place to protect the betting public and to ensure that a rider does not become unbalanced in a tight finish or become dislodged as a result of over-exuberance. Mr Phelan had only to wait a few more strides to celebrate his win.
We also took into account the stake and status of the race. The Wellington Steeplechase is one of the main features of the jumping season and is classified as a Prestige Jumping Race with a stake of $50,000.
Balancing up all of the factors we could see no reason to depart from the Penalty Guides starting point of $300.00.
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: 0bd9b4b8b436d5518cadbe69efc6ad06
informantnumber: A4523
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 17/07/2012
hearing_title: Wellington RC 14 July 2012 - R 6
charge:
Following race 6 an information was lodged by the Stewards alleging a breach of Rule 638(2) in that Shaun Phelan the rider of TOM’S MYTH gave a celebratory gesture prior to passing the finishing post.
facts:
Mr Oatham showed the side and head-on videos of the final stages of the race which clearly showed Mr Phelan raise his whip two to three strides prior to the finish post.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As the charge was admitted the charge was found to be proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Oatham told the committee that Mr Phelan had no previous breaches of this rule; he was a young rider recording his most important win to date and the whip had not been raised in an overly extravagant manner. Mr Oatham made reference to the recent case of Mr Cully at Hastings where he was fined the sum of $150.00 for a breach of the same rule and submitted that a fine in the vicinity of $100 - $200 be imposed today. When asked by the committee how the two charges compared Mr Oatham said that he had not seen the video from Hastings but believed it to be similar.
Mr Phelan said he was full of emotion after getting to the end of a long race and submitted that a fine of $150.00 was appropriate using Mr Cully’s breach as an example. He admitted to the committee that he was well aware of the rule and knew it was unacceptable to make any celebratory gesture prior to the finish post.
reasonsforpenalty:
In the time frame prior to delivering the penalty decision Mr Oatham located the video of Mr Cully’s breach at Hastings and played it with all parties present. Both Mr Oatham and Mr Phelan were given the opportunity to comment with both agreeing it was similar to today’s breach although Mr Cully had raised his inside arm, the one without the whip.
The committee, in coming to a decision on penalty, took into account all of the submissions. We referred to the penalty guide which has, as a starting point for this breach, a penalty of $300. In Mr Phelan’s favour were his clear record and his admission of the breach.
Both Mr Oatham and Mr Phelan compared this celebratory gesture with Mr Cully’s recent breach at Hastings. Mr Phelan was in fact the rider who ran second to Mr Cully on that day and was well aware of the rule.
Having the benefit of seeing the video footage of both we were of the opinion that Mr Phelan’s breach was more flamboyant in that he extended his whip to the maximum above his shoulder at least two and possibly three strides prior to the post. Mr Cully did not raise his whip at all; instead he punched his inside arm forward and did so closer to the finishing post. The rule is in place to protect the betting public and to ensure that a rider does not become unbalanced in a tight finish or become dislodged as a result of over-exuberance. Mr Phelan had only to wait a few more strides to celebrate his win.
We also took into account the stake and status of the race. The Wellington Steeplechase is one of the main features of the jumping season and is classified as a Prestige Jumping Race with a stake of $50,000.
Balancing up all of the factors we could see no reason to depart from the Penalty Guides starting point of $300.00.
penalty:
Accordingly Mr Phelan was fined the sum of $300.00.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 638(2)
Informant: Mr J Oatham - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr S Phelan - Licensed Rider
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 2130317c1604e3a55689ca25977c036d
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 6
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: ce29ca01bcf26e2526cad4193bef31fd
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 14/07/2012
meet_title: Wellington RC - 14 July 2012
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: wellington-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: NMoffatt
meet_pm1: NMcCutcheon
meet_pm2: none
name: Wellington RC