The British Horseracing Authority are investigating a farcical situation at Yarmouth today, as the 50-1 winner of the 1.40 race turned out to be a different horse than advertised.
Two-year-old Mandarin Princess, trained by Charlie McBride, was deemed the winner of the race, but afterward, a scan of the horse confirmed it to be a different animal entirely: the winner of the race was, in fact, a stablemate, three-year-old Millie's Kiss.
Here's how the race was called on At The Races:
Dramatic news - the 'winner' of Yarmouth's opener, 2yo Mandarin Princess, was in fact 3yo stablemate Millie's Kiss. More to follow... pic.twitter.com/nbmK7rpc8l
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) July 27, 2017
When the channel broke the news a couple of hours later, they described it as unprecedented, and had stipendiary steward Tony McGlone explain how it had unfolded:
I haven't come across it either. All horses are brought into the stable, scanned to confirm which horses they are, and allocated boxes. These two horses, the Charlie McBride horses, were given a box each. They went into the boxes. Mr. McBride was in the weighing room, waiting to collect the saddle.
He was slightly delayed getting the saddle, and rushed over. The stable girl had taken the horse out of the stables, and put it into the saddling boxes.
As he was in a rush, he put the saddles on. The horse ran, it won. We then sent the horse for routine testing, and the veterinary officer scanned the horse, and found it to be the incorrect horse.
We've inquired into the matter, and passed it onto the British Horseracing Authority.
The BHA have released the following statement:
BHA statement regarding the incident @GTYarmouthRaces involving Mandarin Princess➡️
Link to stewards report here: https://t.co/pWDaJZBbx8 pic.twitter.com/2KLQgvUJft— BHA Press Office (@BHAPressOffice) July 27, 2017
Martin Kelly of At The Races said that "from a punting point of view, and an integrity point of view, it absolutely stinks...[as] the favourite is skinned by a 50-1 shot that is a year older...if you're a punter, you have every right to be very annoyed".
"This can never ever happen again" - our presenter @Kello_MK sympathises with punters after the wrong horse wins the opener at Yarmouth: pic.twitter.com/FzMmavZEUb
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) July 27, 2017
Some bookmakers have said they will pay out on the horses finishing first and second.
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