October
AugustI must protest
In my opinion the Moonee Valley stewards were wrong, very wrong, when they upheld the protest against Temps Voleur last Saturday.
The horse that gained the protest, Shenzhou Steeds, would have had to be checked anyway, as Count Limonade was falling back fast into his lap and Ben Melham had to check or run into him.
How they put the blame on Temps Voleur is incomprehensible.
I think that in a case like this the connections should have the right of appeal to an independent tribunal. The cost to have horses trained these days are high, and the difference in prizemoney in this case was some $30,000.
I am sure if there was an avenue for this to happen the connections of Temps Voleur would take that option. Unfortunately it would not alter the betting payout on the race, but that is just bad luck for those who supported him.
In a protest the stewards have 25-30 minutes at most to sum up the race, which is not enough time.
They should also gather information from other jockeys that rode in the race.
Two very senior jockeys were heard to say after the race that they were surprised at the decision.
Greenvale (Vic)