Whangarei RC 19 June 2021 – R 3 (request for a ruling) – Chair, Hon J W Gendall QC
ID: JCA12951
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Whangarei RC - 19 June 2021
Meet Chair:
WGendall
Race Date:
2021-06-19 00:00:00.0000000
Race Number:
R 3
Decision:
Separately, if the Information so required, the Committee would rule, in any event, under Rule 631(6)(c) that the Race be void.
Facts:
Rule 918 of the Rules of Racing enables a Stipendiary Steward to seek a Ruling (where there is no Defendant) from the Judicial Committee on a matter referred to in the Information, because of the following circumstances.
Mr Williamson requested that "Race 3 be declared void due to mechanical failure of the starting stalls ...... which could not be fixed in a timely manner".
Submissions for Decision:
The Information referred to Rule 631(6)(c), which gives the Judicial Committee absolute discretion to determine whether a race "is to be void", and it did so in this unusual case. But the Committee records that Stipendiary Stewards have the power under Rule 602(1)(b) and Rule 204 to:
- determine any question as to whether .... any part of a day of racing be abandoned or cancelled, and
- to regulate and ensure all Raceday matters .... and generally, to do all things necessary so that races and racing are conducted efficiently and with integrity ...."
Reasons for Decision:
So the Stipendiary Stewards could, and did, act so as to rule or declare (orally) Race 3 to be "void" - but in fact the decision was, and meant, to abandon the race. They were entitled, and correct, to do so. For completeness Mr Williamson sought confirmation from the Committee.
So to, in a limited, and technical way, the Committee can exercise its power to amend the Information to relate to Rules 918, 602(1)(b) and 204 and to seek a Ruling that the abandonment was proper, necessary and required. It would have, in any event, been made by the Judicial Committee so - The Ruling may also refer to "Abandonment under Rule 631(6)(c).
The following are the facts. A mechanical failure of the starting stalls severely hampered several horses in Race 3 The Trigg Construction Maiden. The Starter declared a false start (so as to technically "void" the race) but at least 6 of the 11 starters raced for some distance, for some, up to 600 metres before being pulled up. On returning to the start - where the stalls were still not operative, 4 were declared late scratchings, as was the 5th which had lost its Rider. The field was then reduced to 5. One of these was the well backed second favourite, EXPRESS DESIRE (No. 7), which had competed strongly in the contest ("race") for at least 600 metres before Jockey Ms T Newman pulled it up.
The electrical mechanical failure could not be immediately remedied. Indeed it was not known how long it might be - if ever, before the defect could be remedied. The advice then to the Stewards was it could be indefinite. The backup starting manual mechanism was not immediately in working order. It was later restored so that all later races were started by manual operation of a lever by the Starter.
The race could not be restarted in a timely manner, and it could not in any reasonable or practical way be started in the open, behind a rope. Of the remaining 5 horses not scratched, some had already run some distance and the second favourite, EXPRESS DESIRE, was seen to run 600 metres (half the distance of the race). The interests of horse welfare, integrity of the Racing Industry, exigencies of time and interests of punters (those who backed EXPRESS DESIRE down to short $3 odds in the full field would not likely have done so if they had known it would later have to run 1800 metres, rather than 1200 metres). All those combined factors fully justified and required abandonment of the race. The Stipendiary Stewards were entitled to do so.
Decision Date: 22/06/2021
Publish Date: 22/06/2021
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: 6d5fbc30bb16145515166f17a414ece6
informantnumber: 14422
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge:
plea:
penaltyrequired:
decisiondate: 22/06/2021
hearing_title: Whangarei RC 19 June 2021 - R 3 (request for a ruling) - Chair, Hon J W Gendall QC
charge:
facts:
Rule 918 of the Rules of Racing enables a Stipendiary Steward to seek a Ruling (where there is no Defendant) from the Judicial Committee on a matter referred to in the Information, because of the following circumstances.
Mr Williamson requested that "Race 3 be declared void due to mechanical failure of the starting stalls ...... which could not be fixed in a timely manner".
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
The Information referred to Rule 631(6)(c), which gives the Judicial Committee absolute discretion to determine whether a race "is to be void", and it did so in this unusual case. But the Committee records that Stipendiary Stewards have the power under Rule 602(1)(b) and Rule 204 to:
- determine any question as to whether .... any part of a day of racing be abandoned or cancelled, and
- to regulate and ensure all Raceday matters .... and generally, to do all things necessary so that races and racing are conducted efficiently and with integrity ...."
reasonsfordecision:
So the Stipendiary Stewards could, and did, act so as to rule or declare (orally) Race 3 to be "void" - but in fact the decision was, and meant, to abandon the race. They were entitled, and correct, to do so. For completeness Mr Williamson sought confirmation from the Committee.
So to, in a limited, and technical way, the Committee can exercise its power to amend the Information to relate to Rules 918, 602(1)(b) and 204 and to seek a Ruling that the abandonment was proper, necessary and required. It would have, in any event, been made by the Judicial Committee so - The Ruling may also refer to "Abandonment under Rule 631(6)(c).
The following are the facts. A mechanical failure of the starting stalls severely hampered several horses in Race 3 The Trigg Construction Maiden. The Starter declared a false start (so as to technically "void" the race) but at least 6 of the 11 starters raced for some distance, for some, up to 600 metres before being pulled up. On returning to the start - where the stalls were still not operative, 4 were declared late scratchings, as was the 5th which had lost its Rider. The field was then reduced to 5. One of these was the well backed second favourite, EXPRESS DESIRE (No. 7), which had competed strongly in the contest ("race") for at least 600 metres before Jockey Ms T Newman pulled it up.
The electrical mechanical failure could not be immediately remedied. Indeed it was not known how long it might be - if ever, before the defect could be remedied. The advice then to the Stewards was it could be indefinite. The backup starting manual mechanism was not immediately in working order. It was later restored so that all later races were started by manual operation of a lever by the Starter.
The race could not be restarted in a timely manner, and it could not in any reasonable or practical way be started in the open, behind a rope. Of the remaining 5 horses not scratched, some had already run some distance and the second favourite, EXPRESS DESIRE, was seen to run 600 metres (half the distance of the race). The interests of horse welfare, integrity of the Racing Industry, exigencies of time and interests of punters (those who backed EXPRESS DESIRE down to short $3 odds in the full field would not likely have done so if they had known it would later have to run 1800 metres, rather than 1200 metres). All those combined factors fully justified and required abandonment of the race. The Stipendiary Stewards were entitled to do so.
Decision:
Separately, if the Information so required, the Committee would rule, in any event, under Rule 631(6)(c) that the Race be void.
sumissionsforpenalty:
reasonsforpenalty:
penalty:
hearing_type: Request Ruling
Rules: 631(6)(c)
Informant:
JockeysandTrainer:
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward: Mr M Williamson - Senior Stipendiary Steward
raceid: 4122721620b2c3c8159257251c25e512
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 3
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: e9d9f5bcf241dcf7f0f9177ad5febb7c
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 19/06/2021
meet_title: Whangarei RC - 19 June 2021
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: whangarei-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: WGendall
meet_pm1: none
meet_pm2: none
name: Whangarei RC