Stewards dismissed a protest by Brad Stewart who finished second on My Giuliano at Doomben, despite finding he was correct in saying winning jockey Ron Stewart whipped his mount too many times before the 100m.
Ron Stewart's mount Ingeegoodbe ($3.30) scored by a nose to My Guiliano ($7) in the Bentley's Chartered Accountants Hcp (2200m) on Saturday.
Brad Stewart fired in a protest claiming Ron Stewart had breached the whip rule by hitting his mount more than five times before the 100m.
"By my count after watching the video replay Ron has hit Ingeegoodbe at least 10 times," Brad Stewart told stewards.
Ron Stewart disagreed and said he had counted seven times which was just over the limit.
Trainer Rob Heathcote, who trains Ingeegoodbe, said it would be a travesty of justice if the protest was upheld.
Stewards took about three minutes to dismiss the protest.
Chief steward Allan Reardon said the stipes had counted nine to 10 whip strikes.
"But we can't measure the impact of whip (strikes). We dismiss your protest," Reardon said.
Ingeegoodbe, who lost three racing plates in the run, made it four wins in a row.
- By Mark Oberhardt (AAP)
