October
SeptemberFlawed system
I know the debate about the Australian protest system has raged for years, but after the recent protest at Moonee Valley I can’t help but feel that our system is flawed.
There were only two horses that deserved to win the race, namely Unanimously and Umgeton. Unanimously did not interfere with Broken at all and finished ahead of her on his merits.
On that basis, my view is that Unanimously deserves to remain ahead of Broken in any finalised placings.
If the stewards formed the view that the protest had sufficient merit to be upheld, the race should have been awarded to Umgeton, with Unanimously second and Broken third.
I know others will argue that Broken does not deserve to be relegated, but if the stewards are a making a judgement on how any interference affected the final result, then I believe it is reasonable to argue that Broken would have finished third in the absence of that interference.
Camberwell (Vic)