It seems like if your opinion is in support of the big stables all of a sudden you are wearing rose coloured glasses. I watched the Cranbourne drive and Mach Alert looked to be racing right up the back of the horse in front and to me, looked like he could have been contacting the gig in front (although stewards report says he was contacting his own - if I interpretted that correctly) - so I think he really needed to come out at that point. I do think he still over raced Mach Alert and pushed too hard once he was out obviously, but again there is a fine line between trying and trying too hard.

I also think that if for instance Luke McCarthy was on Franco Jamar and made this mistake of not taking the gap quick enough - then maybe 10 weeks would be appropriate, but I havent see Andy McCarthy's name a lot - had a quick look and he is usually based in America, so has less experience driving in Australia and also driving this horse.

I personally think they were wanting to make an example of him.