Waikato BOP H 15 October 2024 – R6 – Zev Meredith

Summary of Facts:

Following the running of Race 6, the Respondent Junior Driver Zev Meredith admitted a breach of Whip Rule 869(2).  The particulars of the charge are that he used his whip with more than a wrist flicking motion in the run home.

Rule 869 provides that:

(2) No Driver shall during any race use a whip in a manner in contravention of the Use of the Whip Regulations made by the Board.

Senior Stipendiary Steward Steve Mulcay used available video footage to demonstrate the breach. He said that Mr Meredith lead into the final straight, where he started to use the whip. He said that Mr Meredith engaged the elbow when applying the whip for a considerable distance and while the strikes were not rapid, they did fall outside of the Guidelines.

Mr Meredith was assisted by Mr D Balle. Mr Meredith said that when looking at the film in slow motion, he didn’t believe the strikes looked that bad, and his elbow wasn’t bent that much.

Mr Balle requested that the Rule be read and then pointed to certain aspects of the Rule that hadn’t been breached. He said that Mr Meredith was a promising Junior Driver, but was spending too much time suspended, due to his whip use. He said that Mr Meredith needed some help to adjust his style.

The Adjudicative Committee reminded Mr Meredith that he had recently been referred to Mr Roddy Butt (HRNZ Development Co-Ordinator) for some assistance, however it was acknowledged that Mr Butt’s location in regard to where Mr Meredith was located, may result in limited assistance being afforded to Mr Meredith.

Decision:

The charge is admitted and therefore proved.

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Mulcay produced Mr Meredith’s recent driving history, which indicated 2 previous breaches under this Rule in the preceding 2 months. He said that this was Mr Meredith’s 3rd breach, with the previous 2 breaches resulting in suspensions of 4 days.

He said that the Stewards considered this breach to be in the mid range and a starting point for a mid range breach 2nd breach was 4 days, there was no starting point for a 3rd breach. Mr Mulcay said that the Stewards submitted that a 5 day starting point + a 1 day uplift was an appropriate penalty under the circumstances.

Mr Meredith submitted that he wasn’t ignorant of the Rules and was doing his best to conform.

Mr Balle queried Mr Mulcay as to why he offered no concession to Mr Meredith’s driving status and whether he would have put forward the same penalty if it was a Senior Driver.

Mr Meredith sough a deferment until after the 18th of October to fulfil driving commitments

Reasons for Penalty:

After consideration of the evidence from all parties concerned and viewing the race films of the concluding stages of the race, the Adjudicative Committee assessed the breach as mid range.

A medium-level breach is defined as when a driver inadvertently reverts to the old style (freehand, loose reining and/or more than a flicking motion) and continues to drive in this manner for some distance (50 metres) before taking corrective steps to return to a compliant style of driving.

While the Guidelines do not provide a starting point for a 3rd breach, a 2nd breach mid-range offence starts at 4 days.

The Adjudicative Committee advised Mr Meredith that as this was his 3rd breach, he could expect that his penalty may be higher than that of a 2nd breach offence.

Having balanced Mr Meredith’s record, admission and Driver status, the Adjudicative Committee determined that an appropriate penalty would be a 5 day suspension.

Conclusion:

Mr Meredith is suspended for 5 driving days, to commence after racing on the 18th of October and conclude after racing on the 1st of November 2024.

This penalty included 4 Northern Race Meetings and a race meeting on the 28th of November at Ashburton, where Mr Meredith had driven recently and was confirmed to drive again in a Feature Race. When queried, the Stewards confirmed this was the case.