RIB Penalty Guide
Following two requests from the Association, the Racing Integrity Board has posted on their website, www.racingintegrityboard.org.nz, an announcement that they have updated their Penalty Guide for harness racing, albeit two weeks after the document came into force. This, despite at least one Steward advising licence-holders that they understood it had been advertised earlier.
It has come to our attention that some on social media are alleging that the Trainers & Drivers Assn supported the increased fines in the new guide. At the risk of ruining a good story with the facts, the following is what actually happened.
During the morning of Thursday 27 October 2022, I received an email from HRNZ which included a copy of the RIB Penalty Guide, labelled as Final. The email invited the T&D to submit feedback on the Guide, which were to be included in a report to be presented to the HRNZ Board on Monday 31 October. In other words, we were given less than four days, and over a weekend when all of our National Council members were involved in racing (their career), to peruse the document and form a submission.
Fortunately, someone who is an expert on the HRNZ Rules etc., volunteered to step in and prepare a submission, which was forwarded to HRNZ on Saturday 29th. Unsurprisingly, in the rush the increase in the fine for illegal whip use was missed, probably because a 50% increase in that penalty was neither expected or warranted. (The basic fine for a similar breach in Australia, who have similar rules surrounding whip use, remains at $200.)
In any event, when it is considered that the points made in our submission (apparently supported by the HRNZ Board), the RIB, in their wisdom, chose to ignore them, so it seems reasonable to assume that any concerns voiced over the level of fines would have suffered the same fate.
In other words, to suggest that we were in support of upping the fines, is incorrect. In the past, when a Penalty Guide has been either introduced or updated, a representative of the Trainers & Drivers Assn. has met with Stewards to thrash out the details, however it now appears that we are not worthy of such discussion, and instead have to go through HRNZ.
We are currently in discussion with the RIB concerning aspects of the whip Rules and have voiced disappointment at fines being raised, when stakes and therefore earnings, are decreasing. Hopefully common sense will prevail.
Pete Cook