Very true, here here
In saying that, (and this is not in regards to any race in particular, especially your filly -which without looking up I do not know who it is by the way) if you know you can't beat a horse, you know it is far superior to yours, what do you do? If driving for second is the best possible position one's horse could finish due to a freak being in the field (lets just say Somebeachsomewhere for argument's sake), do you drive it for second? The rules stipulate:
Rule 149(1) "A driver shall take all reasonable and permissible measures during the course of a race to ensure that the horse driven is given full opportunity to win
or obtain the best possible placing in the field".
If the best possible finish, barring accident, is one's horse finishing second, do you go out hard to win and give up most likely a better cheque/finishing position? Food for thought. I remember the last Cox Plate, Gai's horse More Joyous tried to make So You Think feel the weight he was carrying and run him off his feet. Gai was trying to win the race, but realistically she would have never beat So You Think. As an owner I would have liked her to be ridden quiet, get at least second and hope she could win, making the race a sprint home. But she faded out early, trying to win by getting the other horse beat cost her, arguably, second prizemoney.
I am a little on the fence about this, just throwing up some food for thought.
I don't really think it is about "giving" another horse the first place cheque, (IMHO) but trying to make one's own the biggest possible
If it's a win it's a win, if not one got the best cheque they could.
(And good luck with your filly anyway - 4th in a BC must mean she goes OK indeed
)