Quote Originally Posted by Thevoiceofreason View Post
Triplec123 with the greatest of respect I also forgot to correct you on another issue.

Actually it is quite an impotent one there is in fact no setback/ relegation rule in Australian Harness Racing it was removed revoked whatever term you prefer to use back in 2006 it formed part of Rule 66 until that time but was removed by HRA.

There is still the protest rule but that is only if horse A would have finished in front of horse B if an incident had not occurred.

So stop blaming the stewards for not using a rule that is not there and by the way Relegation across the world is being used less and less in the countries that still have it.
Correct that relegation isn't available in Australia, but disqualification is still possible, even more effective in terms of punishing a driver and/or horse that causes another horse to lose their chance of obtaining their best possible finishing position.

66. A horse may be disqualified from a race if the horse -
(a) crosses a horse without being clear of it;
(b) jostles or interferes with a horse unless solely in response to the action taken by another horse or driver;
(c) forces a passage where there is insufficient room;
(d) forces a horse out of its ground;
(e) races on the inside of a marker post or if its sulky or part thereof goes on the inside of a marker post;
(f) interferes with another runner so as to cause that runner, or cause its sulky or any part thereof, to go inside a marker post;
(g) being in the home straight and having a clear uninterrupted run to the post, changes course and thereby prejudices or advantages the chances of another runner.
(h) gains an unfair advantage.



So whilst many think of it as relegation, the purpose and intent of Rule 66 is still there and available to be used to achieve the same result. I for one think that if it were applied it would hurriedly clean up the cowboys who think it is OK to knock down another runner and hopefully retain the win even if there is a protest.