Waikato RC 14 August 2021 – R1 – Taiki Yanagida

Evidence:

This charge arises from the running of Race 1, A Maiden 1200m event. Stipendiary Steward, Mr Jones filed an Information pursuant to Rule 638(1)(d) alleging the Rider of RED INFERNO (T Yanagida),” directed his mount out near the 225m when not sufficiently clear of TREASURE STATE, ESCUDO and RUN FOR COVER which were all crowded and checked to varying degrees.”

Mr Yanagida acknowledged he understood the Rule and confirmed his admission of the breach.

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

Submissions:

Using the available race films Mrs Selvakumaran demonstrated the incident and identified the horses and Riders concerned; RED INFERNO (T Yanagida), RUN FOR COVER (S Collett), TREASURE STATE (Danielle Johnson) and ESCUDO (S Weatherley).

Mrs Selvakumaran said that at about the 225m Mr Yanagida’s mount RED INFERNO was racing to the inside and ahead of TREASURE STATE, outside of this runner was ESCUDO and RUN FOR COVER. She said that initially RED INFERNO was clear of those runners when commencing to shift outwards, however Ms Johnson presented her mount into a gap between RUN FOR COVER and ESCUDO and she had to take a strong hold. As a result TREASURE STATE bumped into ESCUDO who in turn crowded RUN FOR COVER. In response to a question from the Committee Mrs Selvakumaran said that Mr Yanagida was slightly more than 1 length clear during the shift.

In response Mr Yanagida said initially he believed he was clear but the interference was a result of Ms Johnson shifting into the gap quickly. Using the rear films he pointed out that he was following Mr McNab’s mount and saw him shift in and out and at the same time Ms Johnson shouted out to him when he was commencing his outward shift, but it was too late.

Mr Harris said when Mr Yanagida commenced to shift out Ms Johnson’s mount was well behind him.

Decision:

As Mr Yanagida admitted the breach the Committee found the charge proved.

Submission For Penalty:

Mr Jones produced Mr Yanagida’s riding record which indicated 4 previous breaches under the Careless Riding Rule in the last 12 months from 437 rides.

Mr Jones said Stewards assessed the level of carelessness to be in the low-mid range but noted that 3 runners were affected by Mr Yanagida’s carelessness. He added that although Ms Johnson shifted into the gap very quickly, Mr Yanagida’s actions were a misjudgment on his part.

Mr Yanagida did not ask for a deferment and had nothing further to add.

Mr Harris said Mr Yanagida simply misjudged the situation.

Reasons For Penalty:

After considering the submissions and reviewing the race film the Committee determined Mr Yanagida’s carelessness to be mid-range.  This is because when he made the outward shift he took no steps to identify runners to his outer and as a consequence of his carelessness 3 runners had their chances affected to varying degrees. On that basis we adopted a 5-day (suspension) and $500 (fine) as the starting point.

The Committee note that this is Mr Yanagida’s 5th breach in less than 12 months and assess this to be a poor record for which we have applied a 1 day uplift from the starting point.

The only mitigating factor is admission of the breach for which we apply a 1 day reduction in penalty.

Conclusions:

After taking all matters into consideration we impose a 5 day suspension and a $500 fine.