Head Scratcher at the Big A?

A HANA member wanted to share his opinion. What think?

Stewards Decision At Aqueduct Has Seasoned Bettors Scratching Their Head

On Friday in race two, the unofficial winner Awesome Merger came out in the stretch and herded eventual 5th place finisher Memory Motel, who in turn interfered with the second place finisher and 1-2 shot Zio Tony.

The Stewards put up the Inquiry sign, and the jockey of Zio Tony lodged foul against the the rider of the Awesome Merger (even though his horse was impeded by Memory Motel).

The decision the Stewards made after deciding there was enough interference to warrant a change in the official order of finish was very perplexing as they threw out the winner and placed him second, as opposed to fifth (behind Memory Motel).

Did the Stewards take into account that Memory Motel seemed to be quitting when interfered with and that fifth was the best he would have done, interference or not, while also determining that Zio Tony would have won if not interfered with?

This type of predicting the future seems to be quite a stretch for Stewards to partake in, and potentially could lead to many weird placings in the future if it took precedence. 

Is it possible that since the jockey's claim of foul came from the second place finisher, and not the fifth, that human error was made by the placing judge?  That seems more plausible.

Either way, many Horseplayers are calling this an unprecedented placing. (Pace Advantage thread on the topic).