Whangarei RC 12 September 2015 – R 6 (instigating a protest) – Chair, Mr A Dooley
ID: JCA11236
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Whangarei RC - 12 September 2015
Meet Chair:
ADooley
Meet Committee Member 1:
BScott
Race Date:
2015/09/12
Race Number:
R6
Decision:
The protest is dismissed and the Judge's placing’s shall stand. The Committee authorised the payment of stakes and dividends in accordance with its decision.
Facts:
Following the running of race 6 TAVISTOCK NORTHLAND BREEDERS STAKES, an Information was filed Instigating a Protest pursuant to Rule 642(1). The Informant, Mr S Marsh, alleged that SELFIE or its rider placed 2nd by the Judge interfered with the chances of ROCANTO placed 3rd by the Judge.
The interference was alleged to have occurred in the final straight.
The Judge's placing were as follows:
1st No. 8 THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
2nd No. 5 SELFIE
3rd No. 3 ROCANTO
The official margin between 2nd and 3rd was half a length.
Rule 642(1) states: “If a placed horse or its rider causes interference within the meaning of this rule 642 to another placed horse, and the Judicial Committee is of the opinion that the horse so interfered with would have finished ahead of the first mentioned horse had such interference not occurred, they may place the first mentioned horse immediately after the horse interfered with”.
All parties present acknowledged they understood the Rule.
Submissions for Decision:
Mr Marsh submitted that all horses are entitled to a fair run to the finish line without being inconvenienced. He identified on the video footage that Ms Collett pushed out and buffeted ROCANTO for some time which inconvenienced his horse. He raised concerns that SELFIE pushed ROCANTO off his rightful running line. He identified that ROCANTO was pushed out into DEL CIELO when Ms Johnson was trying to hold her line. He advised that ROCANTO was having its first start back from a spell and it “still stuck to his guns good”.
Ms Johnson submitted that Mr Marsh had covered it all well and noted her horse was beaten by half a length. She stated that SELFIE buffeted ROCANTO for 16 strides which took a lot out of her horse.
Mr Collett demonstrated on the video footage that SELFIE came from behind ROCANTO in the final straight. He said the Listed status of the race led to competitive racing and riding. He said SELFIE shifted out half a horse width and ROCANTO leant onto SELFIE. He said ROCANTO had the length of the straight to go past SELFIE and was unable to do so.
Ms Collett acknowledged there was buffeting between ROCANTO and SELFIE near the 300 metres mark. She said Ms Johnson rode competitively in attempting to push her mount back in. She was of the view that ROCANTO was never going to beat SELFIE.
Mr Williamson was invited to express an opinion on the Protest merits. He said that SELFIE came from behind ROCANTO to finish in 2nd position. He said there is no dispute that interference did occur for several strides when SELFIE shifted out. He identified that SELFIE shifted out again for several strides near the 200 metres. He noted the official margin between the 2 horses was half a length and based on those facts alone the Stewards have trouble supporting the protest although ROCANTO was hampered to some degree.
Reasons for Decision:
The Committee carefully considered all evidence and submissions presented and reviewed the video footage several times. We established that entering the final straight SELFIE was racing directly behind THE JUSTICE LEAGUE and on the inside of ROCANTO. Near the 350 metres Ms Collett directs her mount out in an attempt to get clear racing room. In response to this manoeuvre Ms Johnson turned ROCANTO’S head in and she tried to keep SELFIE in a pocket. This resulted in both horses being buffeted for several strides. Ms Collett was successful in obtaining clear running but shortly after this SELFIE briefly shifted out and made minor contact with ROCANTO.
It is significant that over the final 200 metres of the race both horses had an uninterrupted run to the finish line and ROCANTO failed to take any ground off SELFIE.
The Committee is of the opinion that the buffeting that occurred did not have a bearing on the outcome of the race and accordingly there are insufficient grounds to justify a change of placings.
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: 1a11cd1130100ecd9bf67589071fb7b9
informantnumber: A7557
horsename: SELFIE
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 14/09/2015
hearing_title: Whangarei RC 12 September 2015 - R 6 (instigating a protest) - Chair, Mr A Dooley
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 6 TAVISTOCK NORTHLAND BREEDERS STAKES, an Information was filed Instigating a Protest pursuant to Rule 642(1). The Informant, Mr S Marsh, alleged that SELFIE or its rider placed 2nd by the Judge interfered with the chances of ROCANTO placed 3rd by the Judge.
The interference was alleged to have occurred in the final straight.
The Judge's placing were as follows:
1st No. 8 THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
2nd No. 5 SELFIE
3rd No. 3 ROCANTO
The official margin between 2nd and 3rd was half a length.
Rule 642(1) states: “If a placed horse or its rider causes interference within the meaning of this rule 642 to another placed horse, and the Judicial Committee is of the opinion that the horse so interfered with would have finished ahead of the first mentioned horse had such interference not occurred, they may place the first mentioned horse immediately after the horse interfered with”.
All parties present acknowledged they understood the Rule.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
Mr Marsh submitted that all horses are entitled to a fair run to the finish line without being inconvenienced. He identified on the video footage that Ms Collett pushed out and buffeted ROCANTO for some time which inconvenienced his horse. He raised concerns that SELFIE pushed ROCANTO off his rightful running line. He identified that ROCANTO was pushed out into DEL CIELO when Ms Johnson was trying to hold her line. He advised that ROCANTO was having its first start back from a spell and it “still stuck to his guns good”.
Ms Johnson submitted that Mr Marsh had covered it all well and noted her horse was beaten by half a length. She stated that SELFIE buffeted ROCANTO for 16 strides which took a lot out of her horse.
Mr Collett demonstrated on the video footage that SELFIE came from behind ROCANTO in the final straight. He said the Listed status of the race led to competitive racing and riding. He said SELFIE shifted out half a horse width and ROCANTO leant onto SELFIE. He said ROCANTO had the length of the straight to go past SELFIE and was unable to do so.
Ms Collett acknowledged there was buffeting between ROCANTO and SELFIE near the 300 metres mark. She said Ms Johnson rode competitively in attempting to push her mount back in. She was of the view that ROCANTO was never going to beat SELFIE.
Mr Williamson was invited to express an opinion on the Protest merits. He said that SELFIE came from behind ROCANTO to finish in 2nd position. He said there is no dispute that interference did occur for several strides when SELFIE shifted out. He identified that SELFIE shifted out again for several strides near the 200 metres. He noted the official margin between the 2 horses was half a length and based on those facts alone the Stewards have trouble supporting the protest although ROCANTO was hampered to some degree.
reasonsfordecision:
The Committee carefully considered all evidence and submissions presented and reviewed the video footage several times. We established that entering the final straight SELFIE was racing directly behind THE JUSTICE LEAGUE and on the inside of ROCANTO. Near the 350 metres Ms Collett directs her mount out in an attempt to get clear racing room. In response to this manoeuvre Ms Johnson turned ROCANTO’S head in and she tried to keep SELFIE in a pocket. This resulted in both horses being buffeted for several strides. Ms Collett was successful in obtaining clear running but shortly after this SELFIE briefly shifted out and made minor contact with ROCANTO.
It is significant that over the final 200 metres of the race both horses had an uninterrupted run to the finish line and ROCANTO failed to take any ground off SELFIE.
The Committee is of the opinion that the buffeting that occurred did not have a bearing on the outcome of the race and accordingly there are insufficient grounds to justify a change of placings.
Decision:
The protest is dismissed and the Judge's placing’s shall stand. The Committee authorised the payment of stakes and dividends in accordance with its decision.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Protest
Rules: 642(1)
Informant: Mr S Marsh - Trainer of ROCANTO
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent: Mr M Williamson - Stipendiary Steward, Mr A Coles - Stipendiary Steward, Mr B Popplewell - Trackside TV, Mr G Tankard - Representing owners of ROCANTO, Mr B Tankard - Representing the owners of ROCANTO, Ms D Johnson - Rider of ROCANTO, Ms A Collett - Rider of SELFIE
Respondent: Mr R Collett - Trainer of SELFIE
StipendSteward:
raceid: de32bfbeb35da1f01aa1b1eae4b76548
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R6
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 6db79b1e0838f3e29704a1b31572234d
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 12/09/2015
meet_title: Whangarei RC - 12 September 2015
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: whangarei-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: ADooley
meet_pm1: BScott
meet_pm2: none
name: Whangarei RC