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Gareth Hall’s query on Lyles v Snack Bar protest
SENTrack • December 1st, 2025 4:31 pm
There was a protest at Rosehill on Saturday after Lyles had held off Snack Bar in Race 5.
Snack Bar’s jockey Tommy Berry felt Zac Lloyd and Lyles impeded his run at the 700m mark of the 1100m BM78, costing him a length and a half at that stage of the race.
While Snack Bar had the whole straight to run down leader and eventual winner Lyles, the Bjorn Baker gelding was unable to get the job done and had to settle for second place after the protest was dismissed.
But Gareth Hall believes the protest should have been upheld given the margin versus the ground Snack Bar lost early in the race.
“I reckon under those circumstances, if that cost the horse a length and a half and he gets beaten a quarter of a length, it’s easy - the protest is upheld,” Hall said on SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“Stewards will never uphold a protest when the interference is earlier on in a race because if a horse has got 300 metres to run down another horse, like Snack Bar had with Lyles, they’ll say you had your opportunity to win.
“My argument to that is I reckon it’s critical in the early part that you need to keep your spot because positions are crucial especially in the early part of races.
“When someone breaks the rules to get to the spot when you want to get to and then costs you a length and a half and you get beaten a quarter of a length I don’t care how long you had to run that horse down, the protest is upheld.”
See below as Wayne Hawkes responds to Hall’s argument.
“I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying, I’m telling you how the stewards look at it,” said Hawkes.
Despite the drama it was a third straight win for the Matt Smith-trained Lyles who is building a nice record with four wins from eight career starts.
