Comment: Why an upheld whip protest on Cox Plate day would cause World Pool chaos

The World Pool delivers gift-wrapped dollars to Australian racing and there would be a meltdown in Hong Kong if a whip-related protest was upheld, writes Trenton Akers.

There were calls for Without A Fight to be stripped of the Caulfield Cup on Saturday. Picture: Jay Town—Racing Photos via Getty Images.

Money talks, so there would be hell to pay if the result of a race on Cox Plate day was overturned due to excessive whip use while involved with the lucrative World Pool concept.

There were calls for Without A Fight to be stripped of Saturday’s Caulfield Cup after jockey Mark Zahra was fined $50,000 and suspended for breaching Victoria’s controversial whip rules in a thrilling finish against West Wind Blows.

While punters in Australia may be well accustomed to whip-related fall out and fines, it is something completely foreign to those in Hong Kong, who fund the lions’ share of turnover on the World Pool tote.

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Operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the World Pool is marketed for punters around the world, but the punt-crazy locals in the Asian racing Mecca are hard to compete with and there would be a meltdown if a horse they had backed was stripped of a race because of excessive whip use.

It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Victoria would be stripped of World Pool fixtures in the future, given Hong Kong is one of the last remaining jurisdictions without any real whip rules.

It’s a factor Australian racing officials are no doubt nervous about, given the gift-wrapped dollars attached to hosting a World Pool meeting and knowing the power the Hong Kong Jockey Club wields.

Hong Kong boss Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has regularly aired his frustration with the fractured approach to racing in Australia and has been consistent in his discussion surrounding the whip and its potential effect on turnover.

Without A Fight won the Caulfield Cup with Mark Zahra on board. Picture: Scott Barbour — Racing Photos via Getty Images

He was scathing when Blake Shinn was stripped of a race at Flemington in December last year when a whip protest was upheld in a dead-heat finish and issued a warning for the future.

“The only issue is when the whip rule can lead to the outcome of the race being changed, like disqualification of a horse, that would be detrimental to the World Pool,” he told Racenet earlier this year, adding that it would lose the confidence of Hong Kong punters.

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“(The Flemington protest upheld in December) Is not good for global racing and if you start doing it regularly, it would be adverse to the World Pool.”

Hong Kong punters are set to charge in to back their pin-up horse Romantic Warrior in the Cox Plate, in what is the second-last World Pool event in Australia for the spring, with only Victoria Derby Day remaining on the calendar.

They caused chaos last month when he was plunged into a long odds-on quote in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes, leaving bookies who bet Top Tote scrambling for cover when Gold Trip arrived at around double his quoted fixed odds price on the day.

The odds he starts on Saturday could be around the same chance for stewards to dismiss a whip protest in the Cox Plate should one arrive.

Originally published as Comment: Why an upheld whip protest on Cox Plate day would cause World Pool chaos