Amendments to the New Zealand Rules of Racing
Pursuant to section 29 or section 34 of the Racing Act 2003, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Incorporated (NZTR) has made the following changes to the Rules of Racing which will come into effect on 1 August 2017.
Industry consultation has taken place on these proposed amendments and NZTR’s Integrity Committee has sought the views of the Judicial Control Authority (JCA) and the New Zealand Racing Board Dates Committee (NZRB). The NZRB, the JCA and the NZTR Board have approved these amendments.
Deleted words are struck out and added words are in red and underlined.
These amendments to the Rules of Racing are as follows:
This amendment aims to ensure that rider’s agents are prohibited from laying a horse that is included in a race in respect of which the agent has a contract or arrangement to represent a rider that is riding in the race, regardless of whether the rider’s agent has been involved in the engagement of the rider in the particular race.
The amendment is:
710 BETTING AND LAYING BY RIDERS’ AGENTS
(1) A Rider’s Agent must not Lay a horse or have any interest in the Laying of a horse, or facilitate the Laying of a horse in any Race in respect of which the Rider’s Agent has a contract or arrangement to represent any Rider that is riding in that Race (including the horse that is being ridden by the Rider), regardless of whether the Rider’s Agent has been involved in the engagement of any such Rider(s) in the particular Race;
(2) A Rider’s Agent may:
(a) bet (including Laying) at any time on any race or any contingency which includes or relates to any race in New Zealand or elsewhere (not being a Race that is governed by these Rules); and
(b) bet (including Laying) on any Race, or any contingency in relation to any Race, in respect of which the Rider’s Agent does not have a contract or arrangement to represent any Rider in that Race, provided he or she places the bet through his or her betting account with an Authorised Wagering Operator using his or her mobile phone or any of his or her other electronic communication devices (including a smartphone, laptop, personal computer, tablet, pager, or other similar device).
(3) A Rider’s Agent, shall upon request by a Stipendiary Steward or Investigator, supply written or electronic records of all bets (including Lays) made through that Rider’s Agent’s betting accounts, including written or electronic records of that Rider’s Agent’s mobile phone and other electronic communication devices.
(4) For the purpose of Rule 801(t), any breach of this Rule 710 is deemed to be a Serious Racing Offence.
The RIU proposed this new Rule in response to growing concerns regarding tactics being adopted by riders who, after reaching the lead, then steady their mounts abruptly and slow the speed to an extent where trailing runners are forced to heavily restrain off heels and/or are compelled to shift ground abruptly for safety reasons.
The amendments are set out below:
638(4) A Rider shall not unreasonably slow, reduce or check the speed of his or her horse to a degree that interferes, either directly or indirectly, with any other horse in the race.
The Rules do not currently provide for ‘treatments’ to be reported. This is an important aspect of racing and should be included alongside ‘conditions and occurrences’. The general purpose of Rule 650 is to capture issues that impact a horse which is either about to race or has just raced, not situations outside of those relating to a specific race meeting. Rule 650(4) was proposed to capture those situations where an occurrence takes place or a treatment is administered (including surgeries) that may potentially affect the horse in the future, such as a horse which has had an operation to pin joints or correct its breathing/wind.
The amendments are set out below:
650(1) The Trainer or any other person in charge of a horse that is to be brought to the Racecourse or is at the Racecourse to start in a Race must:
(a) ensure that such horse is fit and properly conditioned for the Race in which it is entered; and
(b) report to the Stipendiary Stewards as soon as possible, and in any event no later than one hour before the starting time of that Race, being the time determined by NZRB (as amended by NZTR from time to time), any condition or occurrence that may affect the running of the horse in that Race unless the condition or occurrence is first noticed by the Trainer or other such person or brought to their notice after such time any occurrence, condition or treatment that may affect or impact on the horse’s performance in the Race:
(i) by acceptance time, where the occurrence takes place, the condition is present or the treatment is administered before acceptance time; or
(ii) as soon as practicable, where the occurrence takes place, the condition is present or the treatment is administered after acceptance time;
(2) The Trainer and/or Owner or lessee (as the case may be) and/or Rider and/or any other person in charge of a horse shall report to the Stipendiary Stewards as soon as possible anything which might have affected the running of their horse in a Race.
(3) Should anything which might have any bearing on the past or the future running of the horse come to the notice of the Trainer, Owner or lessee (as the case may be) and/or Rider, after the horse has left the Racecourse, it must be reported as soon as possible to the Stipendiary Stewards.
(4) Where a horse could potentially hold future engagements to race or trial, the Trainer and/or Owner or lessee (as the case may be) or any other person in charge of the horse shall, as soon as practicable, report to the Stipendiary Stewards any major surgeries undergone by, or significant treatments administered to, the horse not previously notified. The kinds of major surgeries and significant treatments covered by this rule are those prescribed by NZTR and published from time to time.
Following a recommendation from the Integrity Committee, the Board approved the release of on a proposed amendment to Rule 317 for industry consultation at its meeting in April 2016.
Racing managers at some Clubs are also Riders’ Agents. The current Rules covering Jockeys’ Agents do not include any clauses on Club managers’ access to nominations.
The amendments are set out below:
317A Class C miscellaneous licence (Rider’s Agent Licence) may be issued to a person who:
(a) has attained the age of 18 years;
(b) is of good character; and
(c) satisfies NZTR that he is competent and responsible to discharge the functions associated with engaging Riders,
but may not be issued to a person who is:
(d) an Official or the spouse or the de facto partner of an Official; and
(e) a Stipendiary Steward or an Investigator.
339A A Rider’s Agent may not act as an agent for a Rider who is contracted to a Trainer unless that Trainer gives his or her approval.