Waikato TR 26 April 2025 – R6 – Vinnie Colgan

Evidence:

This charge arises from Race 6, Mr Jones filed an Information pursuant to Rule 346(2) alleging that Mr Colgan permitted himself to be engaged for two horses ALBAROSSA and BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS.

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

Rule 346(2) provides: A Rider must not permit himself to be engaged for more than one horse accepted or deemed to have been accepted for the same race.

Mr Jones explained to the Adjudicative Committee that Mr C McNab working for Mr Pike (Trainer of  BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS) contacted Mr Jones on Wednesday 23 April and requested that the Stewards determine a dispute over Mr Colgan being booked to ride both ALBAROSSA and BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS in Race 6 at Te Rapa on Saturday 26 April 2025.

Mr Jones said the Stewards had investigated and established the following facts timeline over the dispute

1. Wednesday 16 April – Mr C McNab rang Mr Colgan and asked if he was willing to ride BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS on Saturday 26 April. Mr Colgan indicated he would and confirmed this via a txt later that day.
2. On Thursday morning, the connections of ALBAROSSA approached Mr Colgan to ride their horse. Mr Colgan accepted the ride.
3. On Thursday 17 April at 12.52pm, Mr Colgan made contact with Mr McNab, indicating he wished to relinquish the ride on BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS. Mr McNab advised that he would not release him from what he considered was a firm commitment.
4. At this point, Mr Colgan was engaged for both ALBAROSSA and BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS.
5. The matter stood at that until Wednesday 23 April, when Mr McNab referred the matter to the Stewards.

The Stewards’ view was that Mr Colgan had confirmed the ride on BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS first and was therefore committed to that ride.

The Stewards then charged Mr Colgan with a breach of Rule 346(2).

Mr Colgan did not dispute the Stewards’ report.

Decision

The charge was admitted and therefore proven.

Submissions for Penalty

Mr Jones advised that the charge would normally have been dealt with as a Minor Infringement, however, it was a Group 3 Race and therefore a charge had been laid.

The matter came to a head, as both the parties had not wished to relinquish Mr Colgan as a Rider for their horse.

Mr Jones advised that for a very short time, Mr Colgan was showing as the Rider of ALBAROSSA, before being changed to BOSS ‘N’ HIGHHEELS, after the Stewards had ruled on the dispute. Given the short period of time, this was not seen as an aggravating factor. A mitigating factor was that Mr Hashizume had been engaged for ALBAROSSA and Mr Gray the Trainer, had considered this to be acceptable.

The Stewards recommended a fine of $300, an increase of $100 on the starting point of $200, for a first offence under this Rule.

Reasons for Penalty

The starting point for this charge is $200. The Adjudicative Committee took this as the starting point and considered in the circumstances of the race being a Group 3 event, an uplift was necessary.

Conclusion

In this case, the uplift of 50% was considered appropriate and Mr Colgan was fined $300.