Four horses were declared non-runners as Queensland stewards declined to declare a ‘no race’ of the sixth event at Doomben following Samantha Collett being thrown out the back of the barrier stalls as rival jockeys looked on.
The Sky Racing Benchmark 78 Handicap (1100m) turned to the point of being a debacle after Collett was dislodged from Glorious Ruby who was too eager in anticipating the start of the race.
Unaware of what had happened to Collett, around five seconds later starter Hyrendo Anderson pushed the button to send the field away.
Hold all tickets from Race 6 at Doomben… 😳 pic.twitter.com/Ay8oDbg9MW
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) July 13, 2024
The resulting confusion was compounded for at least four riders, one of which thought the false start beacon – located around 200-metres after the starting position – would indicate a false start.
Vlad Duric aboard Nanagui and Michael Rodd on Bold And Lucy said that their attention was drawn to concern for Collett and not to the start of the race.
Both jockeys expressed that their mounts were not in position for the start as they had not relaxed the reins in their hands to ready their horses for the gates to open.
“Everyone drops the reins to get their horses to relax – this wasn’t the case,” Rodd said.
Rodd also confirmed that no call was heard from behind the gates to draw the starter’s attention.
Front on footage showed many of the riders looking in Collett’s direction instead of the course ahead.
Nanagui, Bold And Lucy, Glorious Ruby and Amore Veloce – ridden by Boris Thornton – were declared non-runners.
The race was officially won by the Tony Gollan-trained Liquor ($4.40 with bookmakers).
