Here’s a few things you might have missed in the wide world of racing over the past week.
QUIRKY (from abroad)
Jockeys beg to differ on route during race (France)
Bit of shenanigans going on here.
It appears a missing part of the rail caused a bit of confusion during a long-distance jumps race in France.
The 7300m race is already long enough without any mid-race hold-ups, but a difference of opinion from the jockeys saw it come to a halt midway through as you can see below.
Common sense applied for the restart – they picked up from where they left off.
A horse called Shawinigan took the prize once they got going again.
Granted, its not hard to see why these races can throw up an incident like this – they have to turn left and right at certain points, ala the Grand Annual at the Bool, making it tough to charter for the jockeys.
What on earth?! 🤯
A difference of opinion from the jockeys in the cross-country at Le Lion d’Angers, bringing the race to a temporary halt… pic.twitter.com/SOLdMabVCx
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 18, 2023
The Aus G1 winner still in work off Broadway (Poland)
It was pretty amazing to learn during the week that Comin’ Through, fast approaching his 10th birthday, remains in active work in Poland.
The news, from World Horse Racing, comes five years on from his Aus G1 win in the Doomben Cup, when he was trained by Chris Waller.
His last win was at Warsaw in a 2200m race in October 2021.
Since his last start in Australia – when unplaced in the 2018 Cantala Stakes at Flemington – Comin’ Through has raced in Hong Kong, Dubai, the UK, Ireland (two wins), Italy, Germany, Poland (two wins) and France.
In three of his last four wins down under, Comin’ Through knocked off the infamous Tom Melbourne – every time by 0.2L.
DID YOU KNOWâ“â‰ï¸ÂÂÂ
COMIN’ THROUGH, winner of the 2018 G1 Doomben Cup, remains in training in Poland! 🇦🇺🇵🇱
His last win was in October, 2021, but he hit the board for trainer Emil Zahariev at his last two starts at Hoppegarten 🇩🇪 and Chantilly 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/qn2FVUbjVy
— World Horse Racing (@WHR) May 18, 2023
Racecaller misses the winner (Japan)
It’s every racecaller’s worst nightmare, and there was a bungle over the weekend.
Australian expat Murray Johnson is the English racecaller for the JRA, and he had a tough finale to dissect in R10 at Tokyo on Sunday.
Complete bolter Peisha Festa ($125) came from the clouds to win it, with Johnson’s eyes on the inside horse Thetta Reddast ($25) as they crossed the line.
It was a pretty remarkable finish, as about 6L covered the 18-horse field, with no more than half-a-length splitting any horse back to 16th.
In fact, the last horse in the 18-horse field was closer to the winner than the runner-up in the following race, when Liberty Island dominated the Japanese Oaks with a 6L romp.
QUIRKY (from Australia)
Retired horse shows up for race
It happens from time to time that the wrong horse comes to the races, but even less often would it be an official retiree.
Granted, I Am The Fox hasn’t long been retired, running his last race on April 30 in the Cup at Alice Springs.
But a few weeks later, he was accidentally presented on course to race at Gawler during the week, when it was meant to be Group Think.
As a result, the stewards issued a fine of $1500 to trainer Matthew Seyers for the mix-up.
I Am The Fox listed as retired on RISA after failing in the Alice Springs Cup – but presented to race at Gawler yesterday.
Bizarre. pic.twitter.com/J9p21kA8xK
— Tom Rush (@TomRush55716426) May 18, 2023