Quote Originally Posted by Thevoiceofreason View Post
Unfortunately Brendan it is all about the law the stewards have to act within the law to be any hope of a conviction.

This is not the first time Racing Victoria Stewards have caught a possible breach of race day treatment rules this carnival. A couple of weeks back they scratched one because it had a puncture wound on it jugular vein, another horse from the same trainer was still allowed to run because there was not enough evidence it had been treated to support the decision to withdraw it.

It is a simple fact, like it or not the decisions will always be governed by the facts of each individual case.
You don't get. Yes those individuals will be treated by formal legal processes and rightfully so. I'm all for that and the RV stewards handled it (to my knowledge) properly. I know why Howmuchdoyouloveme was allowed to run and have been telling other people why, but many Joe Blows don't understand.
The bigger issue is how it looks to Joe Blow. Joe Blow, rightly or wrongly, is angry at how Howmuchyouloveme was allowed to race yesterday. Joe Blow wasn't angry when Greg Kelly was scratched. Joe Blows emotions might not be backed up by the law process, but to the image of racing and harness racing Joe Blows emotions are pretty bloody important.
I'm happy with how this rubs off on harness racing.