The Appeals Body (Division 2) N.B. Wachman (in the Chair), Mrs. T.K. Cooper and Noel McCaffrey met at the Turf Club, The Curragh, Co Kildare on Friday, 22nd July 2016 to consider the appeal of D.G. Hogan against the decision of the Stewards at Killarney on 13th July 2016. On that day D.G. Hogan was suspended for one race day following the running of the Malton Handicap as he was found in breach of Rule 231 for weighing in 1.8lbs overweight.
His grounds of appeal were that the Stewards were incorrect in their findings and the penalty imposed was excessive.
Evidence was heard from D.G. Hogan. The Appeals Body also considered a number of submissions from Andrew Coonan on behalf of Mr Hogan.
In his evidence D.G. Hogan said he rode Neatly Put at Killarney because he is a difficult horse and caused problems in the past. He had planned to ride at the allocated weight of 9 stone 11 lbs and as a result he did not declare overweight. He had intended to lose any excess weight in the sauna at Killarney Racecourse in advance of the race. He said he was held up in traffic and arrived late with the result that he lost the weight very close to the race and this left him feeling weak. He had a cup of tea after weighing out as he felt light headed. He attributed the weighing in overweight to the cup of tea. He said he did not change his riding gear. He also suggested that he could have omitted to take off the breast girth and gloves when he was weighing in and that this could also have contributed to the overweight.
In his submission Andrew Coonan said that D.G. Hogan should not be found in breach of the rule as he weighed in less than 1lb above the weight he weighed out at. He submitted that the weight gain is within the range of what is allowed. He also submitted that there was no requirement on the race day stewards to impose a one day penalty even though the racecourse chairman suggested that the penalty was automatic for the rule breach.
Having considered the evidence the Appeals Body found that D.G. Hogan was in breach of Rule 231 and dismissed the appeal. They ordered that the original penalty of one race day stand and that he forfeit his appeal deposit.
The case was presented by Denis Egan, Chief Executive of the Turf Club. D.G. Hogan was represented by Andrew Coonan, Coonan Cawley Solicitors, Naas, Co Kildare.