Wellington RC 19 January 2013 – R 6 (request for a ruling)
ID: JCA17720
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Wellington RC - 19 January 2013
Meet Chair:
NMoffatt
Meet Committee Member 1:
NMcCutcheon
Race Date:
2013/01/19
Race Number:
R 6
Decision:
Focusing only on the facts Mr Innes was available, he could make the weight for Mr Marsh’s horse therefore the committee could find no reason for him to be denied the right to accept the ride on SAVOUR THE MOMENT.
Facts:
Prior to the running of Race 6, the Listed 2013 Queensland Racing Winter Carnival Anniversary Handicap, Mr Oatham requested a ruling in relation to Rule 330(2) and Rule 520(3) as to whether L Innes should be permitted to take the ride for SAVOUR THE MOMENT.
Rule 330(2) reads: Any dispute with reference to the engagement of a Rider to ride at a particular Race Meeting or Race Meetings shall be determined by a Judicial Committee at the request of a Stipendiary Steward or any of the parties to the dispute.
Rule 620 (3) reads: If a Stipendiary Steward or Investigator is satisfied that any Rider whose name has been declared to NZTR is unable to make the weight which the horse he was to ride was handicapped to carry (or such other weight at which he may have agreed to ride the horse)the Stipendiary Steward or Investigator may permit another Rider to be substituted for the declared Rider and in such case no riding fees shall be payable to the declared Rider and no penalty shall be imposed upon the Trainer on account of the change in Riders.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Oatham said this was an unusual set of circumstances. Mr Waddell had advised the Stewards that he would not be able to make the weight for his ride in race 5, LUCKY COUNTRY trained by Mr S Marsh. He further advised that he would be a half kilo overweight on his next ride in Race 6 also trained by Mr Marsh (SAVOUR THE MOMENT). Mr Marsh however did not accept that and elected to replace Mr Waddell as the rider for SAVOUR THE MOMENT.
Mr Oatham first became aware of the situation when he saw Mr Innes talking to the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT outside the judicial room. Mr Innes then approached Mr Oatham to say that he was overweight for his ride on VOLKSWOOD in the same race but could make the weight on SAVOUR THE MOMENT. He therefore wanted to swap horses. Mr Oatham explained to the Judicial Committee that under the circumstances the Stewards were not happy to allow the change. They had not been made aware of any issues regarding Mr Innes’ weight and Mr Innes only approached them following his discussions with the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT. Mr Oatham said the perception could be that Mr Innes was switching to a more favoured runner and whilst the Stewards were not suggesting any “skulduggery” they did not wish to be setting any precedents.
Mr Innes told the committee that whilst the trainer of VOLKSWOOD was happy for him to ride half a kilo over the carded weight he was actually three quarters to a kilo overweight and could no longer take the ride. On the way to advising Mr Oatham of this he happened to walk past the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT. They asked Mr Innes if he had a ride in the race and he said that he did but would be taken off it as he was a kilo overweight. Mr Innes went to Mr Oatham and told him he was overweight but requested he be allowed to accept the ride on SAVOUR THE MOMENT. He said he had a firm commitment to ride that horse in the Thorndon Mile next Saturday.
Mr Marsh said he spoke to Mr Waddell’s manager last week and made it quite clear that he expected him to make the correct weights for today. Normally he would allow Mr Waddell to ride half a kilo overweight but he was upset at him and thought it made sense for Mr Innes to to take the ride considering he would be on the horse next week.
Reasons for Decision:
After hearing all of the submission the committee agreed that it was appropriate for the Stewards to seek a ruling on this matter. The events as they unfolded did appear to be conveniently coincidental for the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT and Mr Innes however we had to look solely at the facts.
Mr Innes was the declared rider for VOLKSWOOD down in the race book at 53kgs. Mr Innes was 1kg over the weight and replaced by Mr Du Plessis.
Mr Waddell was the declared rider for SAVOUR THE MOMENT down in the race book at 55kgs. He was half a kilo overweight but in this instance the trainer Mr Marsh was not happy with him riding over the weight and took him off the horse. He is allowed to do so.
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: e444d171a2d0c17471669a9623a4399d
informantnumber:
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 18/12/2012
hearing_title: Wellington RC 19 January 2013 - R 6 (request for a ruling)
charge:
facts:
Prior to the running of Race 6, the Listed 2013 Queensland Racing Winter Carnival Anniversary Handicap, Mr Oatham requested a ruling in relation to Rule 330(2) and Rule 520(3) as to whether L Innes should be permitted to take the ride for SAVOUR THE MOMENT.
Rule 330(2) reads: Any dispute with reference to the engagement of a Rider to ride at a particular Race Meeting or Race Meetings shall be determined by a Judicial Committee at the request of a Stipendiary Steward or any of the parties to the dispute.
Rule 620 (3) reads: If a Stipendiary Steward or Investigator is satisfied that any Rider whose name has been declared to NZTR is unable to make the weight which the horse he was to ride was handicapped to carry (or such other weight at which he may have agreed to ride the horse)the Stipendiary Steward or Investigator may permit another Rider to be substituted for the declared Rider and in such case no riding fees shall be payable to the declared Rider and no penalty shall be imposed upon the Trainer on account of the change in Riders.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Oatham said this was an unusual set of circumstances. Mr Waddell had advised the Stewards that he would not be able to make the weight for his ride in race 5, LUCKY COUNTRY trained by Mr S Marsh. He further advised that he would be a half kilo overweight on his next ride in Race 6 also trained by Mr Marsh (SAVOUR THE MOMENT). Mr Marsh however did not accept that and elected to replace Mr Waddell as the rider for SAVOUR THE MOMENT.
Mr Oatham first became aware of the situation when he saw Mr Innes talking to the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT outside the judicial room. Mr Innes then approached Mr Oatham to say that he was overweight for his ride on VOLKSWOOD in the same race but could make the weight on SAVOUR THE MOMENT. He therefore wanted to swap horses. Mr Oatham explained to the Judicial Committee that under the circumstances the Stewards were not happy to allow the change. They had not been made aware of any issues regarding Mr Innes’ weight and Mr Innes only approached them following his discussions with the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT. Mr Oatham said the perception could be that Mr Innes was switching to a more favoured runner and whilst the Stewards were not suggesting any “skulduggery” they did not wish to be setting any precedents.
Mr Innes told the committee that whilst the trainer of VOLKSWOOD was happy for him to ride half a kilo over the carded weight he was actually three quarters to a kilo overweight and could no longer take the ride. On the way to advising Mr Oatham of this he happened to walk past the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT. They asked Mr Innes if he had a ride in the race and he said that he did but would be taken off it as he was a kilo overweight. Mr Innes went to Mr Oatham and told him he was overweight but requested he be allowed to accept the ride on SAVOUR THE MOMENT. He said he had a firm commitment to ride that horse in the Thorndon Mile next Saturday.
Mr Marsh said he spoke to Mr Waddell’s manager last week and made it quite clear that he expected him to make the correct weights for today. Normally he would allow Mr Waddell to ride half a kilo overweight but he was upset at him and thought it made sense for Mr Innes to to take the ride considering he would be on the horse next week.
reasonsfordecision:
After hearing all of the submission the committee agreed that it was appropriate for the Stewards to seek a ruling on this matter. The events as they unfolded did appear to be conveniently coincidental for the connections of SAVOUR THE MOMENT and Mr Innes however we had to look solely at the facts.
Mr Innes was the declared rider for VOLKSWOOD down in the race book at 53kgs. Mr Innes was 1kg over the weight and replaced by Mr Du Plessis.
Mr Waddell was the declared rider for SAVOUR THE MOMENT down in the race book at 55kgs. He was half a kilo overweight but in this instance the trainer Mr Marsh was not happy with him riding over the weight and took him off the horse. He is allowed to do so.
Decision:
Focusing only on the facts Mr Innes was available, he could make the weight for Mr Marsh’s horse therefore the committee could find no reason for him to be denied the right to accept the ride on SAVOUR THE MOMENT.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Request Ruling
Rules: 330(2) and 620(3)
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr L Innes - Licensed Jockey, Mr S Marsh - Trainer of SAVOUR THE MOMENT, Mr N Goodwin - StipendiarySteward
Respondent:
StipendSteward: Mr J Oatham - Stipendiary Steward
raceid: 4927ccbf233f0707cffbe173f20f4b23
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: b3aeb34c8711bd99e708e12fce45cf7e
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 19/01/2013
meet_title: Wellington RC - 19 January 2013
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