Beaten jockeys Mitchell Bell and Hugh Bowman waged a war of words after the finishing post following a bumping duel for half of the straight in a drama-charged Hall Mark Stakes won by Music Magnate, which needed an agonising wait to get the nod in a photo finish.
Drama-charged race: Brenton Avdulla rides Music Magnate to victory in the Hall Mark Stakes. Photo: bradleyphotos.com.au
Brenton Avdulla thought he was beaten as Tim Clark's mount Knoydart lunged on the line in the group 3 sprint, but the two-minute long wait for the judge's decision was only the beginning of the drama.
Bell, who was riding country star Artlee, tried to shoulder Bowman and Target In Sight out of the way for a prolonged period after the turn before eventually pulling out of the run.
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He rode up alongside Bowman after the post and gave Australia's leading group 1 rider a spray, which had stewards hauling the pair in to explain their actions.
"We had words," a coy Bell told stewards.
Pressed on what was said, Bell said: "No comment".
To which Bowman replied: "I asked him a few questions as well. My horse became unbalanced for a while and it forced it to relinquish ground because of the bumping from the inside."
Stewards eventually charged Bell with careless riding for repeatedly trying to push Bowman's mount out of the way, claiming Target In Sight had maintained a straight line during the incident.
Bell initially pleaded not guilty before changing his plea to guilty.
"It's clear I've done probably a little bit more than what I should have," Bell said. "I was stubborn and tried to force that run. Probably 10 times out of 10 the places I ride [provincials and country] I get that run. I've got that carelessness there."
Chief steward Ray Murrihy told Bell the "pushing and shoving went for much too long" before praising the rider as having a record "as good as anyone going around". He was two days shy from having an entire year without a careless riding charge.
He was suspended for four meetings commencing from next Sunday with acting chairman of stewards Marc Van Gestel warning Bell "to leave those matters for the stewards to deal with in the room".
Artlee's trainer Todd Willan was far from unhappy with his charge which beat just one runner home while Target In Sight was beaten half-a-length in fifth.
Stradbroke-bound Music Magnate held on under a perfectly-timed Avdulla ride as Knoydart missed by a nose with Fast 'N' Rocking a long head back in third.
"I didn't think I had won," Avdulla said. "I thought I was the winner the whole way up the straight until the last stride. Timmy's lunged and my bloke tried hard first-up over 1200 metres up in grade.
"To his credit he stuck his head out and I reckon he's got a good race in him."
Added winning trainer Bjorn Baker: "I did say to Brenton, 'I haven't won a race during the carnival and I want to win one'. We've had a few placings and it hasn't been a bad time with plenty of winners during the week. I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.
"First-up he was always going to be hugely vulnerable and whatever he did we would build on. It's great to be here and to win a stakes race over the carnival."