What's unfortunate here is that Maximum Security clearly should have been disqualified, but Country House may not have won the race if that blocked horse wasn't impeded by Maximum Security.
Yes, it does, that’s a good gif. The move caused the nearest horse to change his stride, and if that had not happened it would have come in before the declared winner.
The reason preventative rules like this cannot be ignored is because pretty soon fudging the rules will become widespread- and jockeys will be pressured to push them -until eventually some horse clips another, and in a pack like that, if one stumbles or goes down, it’s probable it will cause a chain reaction. Nothing ruins a day at the races like seeing one or more fine horses put down. An occasional disqualification isn’t going to ruin the sport but a preventable pileup and injured horses would blacken the sport for sure.