Wellington RC – 9 July 2005 – Race 1

Following the running of Race 1 today, Mr Taylor instigated a protest alleging that Southern Gal or its rider, placed third in the race by the Judge, interfered with the chances of Mick Curtis, placed fourth by the Judge. The interference was alleged to have occurred in the last 200 metres of the race.

Mr McCutcheon, Stipendiary Steward, reserved the right to charge. He advised that the official margin between the third and fourth placed horses was a half length.

Mr Taylor used video footage, from the front, rear and side perspectives to demonstrate the evidence he gave. He said that he was making his run in the home straight from a position about one out from the rails while Southern Gal was making its run down the centre of the track.

However, Southern Gal began to shift inwards. It shifted in some distance to a point where it was racing on the outside of Mick Curtis albeit, about a half length ahead. It then continued to shift in taking the line of Mick Curtis.

Initially the two horses did not touch. However the inward movement of Southern Gal caused Mick Curtis to shift inwards, bumping the horse on its inside. This unbalanced the horse. Mick Curtis then moved out again and received a bump from Southern Gal. Mr Taylor said that it took time for his horse to regain its balance and momentum especially given the heavy track conditions but it then chased Southern Gal home. This was over the final 100-200m of the race.

The video footage of the race showed that immediately before the incident involving Southern Gal, Mick Curtis had received significant buffeting, and was knocked off balance by it, in the course of going through a gap between two other horses.

Mr G Sewell represented Mr J Parkes, the rider of Southern Gal. Mr Sewell acknowledged that Southern Gal had shifted in but considered that it was not too severe and that it had done no more than brush Mick Curtis. In his view, Mick Curtis overreacted and become unbalanced as a result.

Neither Mr George nor Mr Parkes had anything to add to what Mr Sewell had said. Mr Gulliver had nothing to add to what Mr Taylor had said.

Mr McCutcheon said that it was clear that Mick Curtis had been denied its line of running by Southern Gal in the concluding stages of the race and that it had become unbalanced as a result. He considered that Mick Curtis had been denied the opportunity of gaining a higher place because of the interference.

Decision

The Committee concluded that Southern Gal shifted in on Mick Curtis, when insufficiently clear of that horse. This occurred about half way down the straight and caused Mick Curtis to be bumped and become unbalanced for the second time. Having reached that conclusion the Committee needed to decide next whether the interference with the chances of Mick Curtis gaining a higher place in the race. In this case that means whether Mick Curtis would have beaten Southern Gal into third place if the interference had not occurred.

In coming to a conclusion, the Committee first considered how both horses were finishing the race. Before the interference occurred both horses appeared to be running the race out and Southern Gal appeared to have an advantage of about half a length. After the interference by Southern Gal, both horses ran the race out and the margin between them, at the end, was half a length i.e. Mick Curtis had not made any significant inroads into Southern Gal's lead.

In that regard, Mr Taylor made a submission that Mick Curtis received significant buffeting, and was clearly unbalanced, as a result of the interference by Southern Gal. Given the heavy going he considered that the interference took its toll on Mick Curtis. That is a reasonable explanation for the fact that Mick Curtis did not make any inroads into Southern Gal's lead. The Committee accepts it as such but notes that the same explanation applies in respect of the earlier incident in which Mick Curtis was buffeted and unbalanced. That incident may well have taken its toll on Mick Curtin whether the subsequent interference occurred or not.

After reviewing the whole of the evidence, including the video footage of the running of the closing stages of the race and taking into account the way both horses finished the race and the margin of half a length between them at the finish, the Committee was left in doubt as to whether Mick Curtis would have beaten Southern Gal into third place if the interference had not occurred.

Accordingly, the Committee not being satisfied that the interference by Southern Gal resulted in Mick Curtis being deprived of a higher placing, the protest is dismissed. The placings by the Judge are confirmed.