Auckland TR 21 September 2024 – R1 – Tegan Newman

Evidence

Following the running of Race 1, Chief Stipendiary Steward Mr Oatham filed an Information pursuant to Rule 638(1)(d) alleging the Rider of HOOTIE JOHNSON (T Newman), allowed her mount to shift outwards near the 300 metres when not sufficiently clear of BRIAN LAMONT (A Lawson-Carroll), which was checked.

Ms Newman acknowledged she understood the Rule and confirmed her admission of the breach.

Rule 638(1)(d) provides:  A Rider shall not ride a horse in a manner which the Adjudicative Committee considers to be careless.

Using the available race films, Senior Stipendiary Steward Mr Jones demonstrated the incident and identified the horses and Riders concerned; namely HOOTIE JOHNSON and BRIAN LAMONT.

Mr Jones told the Adjudicative Committee that approaching the 300-metre mark in the home straight, Ms Newman angled her mount out “quite abruptly” one horse-width to obtain clear running. In doing so, she crowded and checked BRIAN LAMONT.  He added that at the time of the shift, HOOTIE JOHNSON was barely a length clear.

In response, Ms Newman had nothing further to add.

Decision

As Ms Newman admitted the breach, the Adjudicative Committee found the charge proved.

Submissions for Penalty

Mr Oatham produced Ms Newman’s riding record, which indicated 3 previous breaches from 345 mounts during the last 12 months.  These include:

16 February 2024 – 4 days

16 October 2023 – 5 days

4 October 2023 – 5 days

Mr Oatham pointed out that the two October 2023 breaches will ‘drop off’ shortly and on that basis, Ms Newman has a relatively good record under the Rule.  He said that Ms Newman misjudged her outward shift, and Stewards assessed the level of carelessness to be slightly above low range.  He submitted that any proposed suspension, should be commensurate with a low to mid-range penalty.

Ms Newman sought to defer any proposed suspension, until after racing on 22 September 2024 and in terms of any proposed penalty, she offered no specific submissions.

Reasons for Penalty

After considering the submissions and the race film, the Adjudicative Committee determined Ms Newman’s carelessness to be in the low to mid-range and adopted a 6-day starting point.

The available films established that Ms Newman did allow her mount to shift out, about one horse width, into the line of BRIAN LAMONT, who was crowded and checked.

Ms Newman’s overall record is good, and, on that basis, a 1-day reduction is applied for her combined good record and admission of the breach.

After taking into account all the above factors, the Adjudicative Committee considered a 5-day suspension to be appropriate.

Conclusion

The Adjudicative Committee granted Ms Newman a deferment to her suspension.  Accordingly, her Licence to ride in races is suspended for a period of 5 days, commencing after racing on 22 September 2024 and concluding after racing on 2 October 2024.