Stewards dismissed a protest by Brad Stewart who finished second on My Giuliano at Doomben despite finding he was correct in saying winning jockey Ron Stewart whipped his mount too many times in the straight.
Ron Stewart’s mount and favourite Ingeegoodbe ($3.30) scored by a nose to My Guiliano ($7) in the Bentley’s Chartered Accountants Handicap (2200m).
Brad Stewart fired in a protest claiming Ron Stewart had breached the whip rule by hitting his mount more than five times before the 100m.
“By my count after watching the video replay Ron has hit Ingeegoodbe at least 10 times,” Brad Stewart told stewards.
Ron Stewart disagreed and said he had counted seven times which was just over the limit.
Rob Heathcote, who trains Ingeegoodbe, said it would be a travesty of justice if the protest was upheld.
Stewards took about three minutes to dismiss the protest.
Chief steward Allan Reardon said the stipes had counted nine to 10 whip strikes.
“But we can’t measure the impact of whip (strikes). We dismiss your protest,” Reardon said.
Ingeegoodbe, lost three racing plates in the run, but made it four wins in a row.
“He will go to the paddock tomorrow and come back for a Magic Millions Cup campaign,” Heathcote said.
