I'm away at the moment so am unfamiliar with the case in question.
However, from the info given the horse was roughly 1.25 the place so was about evens in the win market?
Betting $100 the place with a bookie would have been 25/100, dead heating for 3rd means 50% of the ticket value (as there were 2 horses sharing 1 dividend ie 3rd) which is $62.50 returned.
Can't see what the fuss is about.
If you were the bookie would you pay out 4 divs, instead of 2 full and 2 halves?