Stewards inquired into the reason for DASHER VC NZ (Chris Lewis) racing roughly in the back straight on the final occasion. It was established that as the field entered the back straight on the final occasion, Gary Hall Jnr (IM THEMIGHTYQUINN NZ) had moved to the three-wide line inside DASHER VC NZ, with Chris Lewis applying pressure to resist any further outward shift from Mr Hall. As IM THEMIGHTYQUINN NZ made ground, to the inside of DASHER VC NZ, wheel to wheel pressure was relieved resulting in there being slight contact to the hind leg of DASHER VC NZ, which raced roughly. Stewards took no action over the matter as they were satisfied that IM THEMIGHTYQUINN NZ had maintained its racing line and the pressure applied by Chris Lewis had been a significant factor in the incident.

From the Stewards' Report http://www.harness.org.au/stewards-r...fm?mc=GP200212

There you are, like it or lump it we have rules that allow pushing out, therefore we will continue to have examples of horses that make an early move three wide have their task made harder because drivers that couldn't/wouldn't go earlier will then shunt them out of the way when they want to go!