Auckland TR 25 May 2024 – R6 – Stephen Marsh

Background

Senior Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones filed an Information alleging Licensed Trainer, Mr S Marsh failed to declare the Rider for DUBAI DIVA (r6) by the Rider declaration time.

Mr Marsh endorsed the Information that he admitted the breach, but did not wish to be present at the hearing.

Rule 537 provides that:

The Trainer or Owner or lessee (as the case may be) or the Agent of the Trainer, Owner, or lessee (as the case may be) for a horse accepted or deemed to have been accepted for a Race shall:

(a)  declare to NZTR the name of the Rider of that horse by the time and date specified by NZTR for declaration of Riders for that Race.

Evidence

A charge of this nature would generally be dealt with by way of a Minor Infringement Notice, however, as this was Mr Marsh’s 3rd breach within the reset period, an Information was preferred.

Mr Jones advised the Adjudicative Committee that DUBAI DIVA was a dual acceptor at the meeting (R1 and R6), but a Rider had only been declared for Race 1 prior to the Rider declaration time of 1pm on Wednesday. He said that the Rider declared for Race 6 (T Moodley) had only been declared at 7.30am on the morning of the races.

Mr Jones said that failure to declare a Rider when being a dual acceptor, could lead the betting public to expect that the runner would start in the race for which the Rider was declared and as such, could distort the betting.

Decision:

The charge is admitted, therefore it is deemed to be proved.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Jones said that this was Mr Marsh’s 3rd breach within the reset period and a 2nd breach would normally attract a fine of $100 and that Mr Marsh had a lot of horses under his care.

Reasons for Penalty:

Whilst Mr Jones raised the possibility that the betting public could be affected due to a late declaration of Rider, there is no suggestion that this has actually occurred and it is not considered that this was the case on this occasion.

After consideration of the circumstances, including the admission of the breach and Mr Marsh’s record, the Adjudicative Committee determined a modest uplift from the 2nd breach level of $100 was appropriate and issued a fine of $150.

Conclusion:

Mr Marsh was fined $150.