Demoting a horse?

[Zamorston]

When holding a stewards enquiry, does the finishing position of the horses have any bearing whatsoever on the outcome?

I’m still scratching my head in disbelief at being ‘cheated’ out of an each way single and an each way double on Barren Brook yesterday in the 4.20 at York where the horse finished 5th but was clearly denied 4th place by his better fancied stablemate Kalk Bay….

The stewards looked into it and came up with the following….

"The Stewards held an enquiry to consider why Ted Durcan, the rider of BARREN BROOK, unplaced, had appeared to stop riding shortly before the winning post and finished fifth beaten a head for fourth place. Having heard his evidence and viewed recordings of the race they noted his explanation that he was denied a clear run in the closing stages of the race."

Now my question would be……if Kalk Bay had won the race and Barren Brook finished 2nd would the result have been any different as in my eyes Kalk Bay interfering with Barren Brook 100% cost it 4th place….

Why was Kalk Bay not demoted and placed behind Barren Brook??

[eddie case]

The placings are irrelevant, all they have to decide is whether the horse interfered with, would have finished in front of the horse who interfered with it. If that was the case the placings would be changed.

However Barren Brook received only minor interference from Kalk Bay and was tightened up if anything, even more so by the horse on it’s outside, think it was Robert The Painter. It could be argued that Durcan should have still been a bit more vigorous in the finish despite the interference. So under those circumstances they shouldn’t reverse the placings although it was bad luck for Barren Brook’s backers.

[Author]

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