It's a perfect storm of issues and chief steward Kim Kelly is facing his first real test of character in the job since he took over last August
What with an inquiry into the handling of Collection and the revelation of a level two blood in his trachea eight days prior, the Ming Hoi Treasure cocaine discovery (and a boycott of a trainers' meeting by about half of the trainers as a result of how they viewed its handling) and criticism of strong careless riding penalties, Kelly has a full plate.
There hasn't been a gnashing of teeth like this over the actions of the stewards since John Schreck upheld the De Integro protest at Happy Valley in March 2002 - and that one brought the extraordinary Basil Fawlty-like claim that 'this is exactly how Nazi Germany started'. Rather overcooked, but certainly colourful.
One of our Chinese language counterparts has reportedly even taken the remarkable step of closing his betting account, after 30 years as a Jockey Club customer, over Darren Beadman's handling of Collection.
Well, it's his account, he can do what he likes, but if he didn't close it after the stewards' lack of a response to Michael Kinane's ride on Benji in 1996, then it pales as an act of protest to be taken seriously. Maybe he's just trying to change the luck.
This column has always been happy to take the stewards on when they are clearly wrong - and it certainly does happen.
We had our say on the Collection issue last week and, after the reconvened hearing on Friday, would still only say the blood in trachea episode could have been more significant than the weight it was given. Beadman's handling of Collection was not unreasonable, considering how little help he was getting from the animal itself, but Beadman gave evidence that he did have the bad scope in his mind during the race.