Queensland stewards are set to review a protest decision which sensationally saw a horse stripped of a race, despite winning by more than a length while eased down.

In what has been described as one of the most incredible protest decisions by stewards, trainer David Murphy's Beachside Babe lost a race at Beaudesert in Saturday after it was alleged jockey Andrew Spinks caused interference at the 300m mark.

Murphy aired his dismay at the decision after the race, telling Racenet: "I almost fell off my chair".

After widespread ridicule, the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission announced on Monday they would look into the decision.

"The Commission will review the processes around the decision from Saturday at Beaudesert, as it does around all decisions," a QRIC statement said.

The successful protest saw the "battling" connections of Beachside Babe miss out on $22,000 in prizemoney as she is a QTIS-qualified filly.

"They are devastated – one of them is a gardener who bought her for a few thousand dollars and the other guy is retired, it is out of control," Murphy said of the connections.

YOU know it’s ‘gelati city’ when you’re long-time ‘spin doctor’ throws you under a bus and bags the crap out of you.

The ‘you’ in this case is the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission or more specifically its boss Shane Gillard and the ‘spin doctor’ is News Limited or more specifically one of his former fans leading turf scribe Ben Dorries.

Gillard seems to have lost majority confidence of the industry and stakeholders in the way he is running QRIC. His only friends appear to be the Chief Steward he appointed (Josh Adams) and a few ‘supportive’ stewards in the country (hope he’s enjoying the weather in Cairns) who many believe should join Gillard on the first train out.

The message is loud and clear to Racing Minister Grace Grace. QRIC needs change and you need to recognise that this lack of confidence in the integrity unit under the chairmanship of the man you appointed has degenerated into a farce.

It’s time to send a message to the racing industry and the stakeholders that you will no longer tolerate what is going on before it drags on and the LNP does the job for you when they take control of Government at the next election.

There are growing calls for Gillard and Adams to go and for QRIC to change this farcical approach they are adopting to ensure racing in Queensland is clean. How do you ensure that when less swabs are being taken. It’s almost an invitation for the rule-breakers to do as they like or to head north where ‘anything goes’.

But rather than LGHR repeat what we (and Archie Butterfly have been saying for months) here's what Ben Dorries, who has finally jumped ship, had (in part) to say on Racenet:

THE Queensland Racing Integrity Commission has lost the plot.

Integrity and animal welfare are meant to be the cornerstones of what they are about, but it’s impossible to see how their latest decision falls under that charter.

QRIC is reducing the number of vets and sample collection officers (swabbies) on race days from two to one.

Sample collection officers are required to collect and securely package urine and blood samples from horses, for the purpose of analysis on behalf of QRIC.

The cuts are an apparent bid to save costs, yet this is the same organisation who high-placed industry sources say has spent about $400,000 so far on legal costs in the ongoing Alligator Blood court matter.

Perhaps crying poor is a move by the top QRIC officials, Commissioner Shane Gillard and his Deputy Natalie Conner, to scrape more money from the State Government.

But consider the potential animal welfare and integrity ramifications of the current move.

The Queensland Thoroughbred Alliance (trainers, jockeys and breeders) is rightly up in arms.

“The recent announcement by QRIC to reduce race-day vets and sampling officers, citing budget constraints, is totally unacceptable to our industry,” spokesman Cameron Partington said.

“The welfare of our people and animals, along with the perceived and actual integrity of our racing, are both areas of concern that are beyond compromise.

“Particularly in the warmer summer months, ensuring horses are professionally cared for and monitored is of the utmost importance – it was just a few weeks ago at Ipswich that the race meeting was delayed for nearly an hour to allow the two race-day vets additional time to monitor and care for horses.

“Having just one vet on course at a race meeting is a potential huge financial loss to our industry – as simple as what if the horse or the vet themselves needs significant care what happens to our race meeting?”

Back in 2020, a posse of Queensland trainers complained they were not competing on a level playing field and insisted QRIC wasn’t doing enough to stop doping and cheating.”

It will be interesting to see what this ‘supposed’ Independent Review into QRIC currently under way and ordered by the Racing Minister, proposes.

With Commissioner Gillard reported to have written the terms of reference for the Review, don’t expect too much decisive action – just more of the same.

That's Queensland Racing - crap one day and worse the next!