Winner disqualified at Galway after wrong horse was sent out to run
Irish trainer Jessica Harrington was left red-faced after it was discovered the wrong horse had won a two-year-old race.
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An accidental ring-in went unnoticed before a three-year-old won a race in Ireland on Tuesday.
A horse thought to be two-year-old filly Alizarine upset the Aidan O’Brien-trained favourite Twinkle in a maiden at Galway before racecourse vets raised the alarm.
Vets picked up the fact three-year-old filly Aurora Princess had run instead of Alizarine.
The horses were both part of trainer Jessica Harrington’s team for the Galway meeting.
Vets picked up the error when scanning the winner’s identification chip as the horse was leaving the parade ring after the race.
Under Irish rules the official vets can lodge an objection to the result of a race if they believe the wrong horse has competed.
Irish horses are scanned on arrival on the track but, unlike Australia, are not scanned again as they parade before the race.
Irish rules require winners to be scanned before they leave the parade ring after a race.
Stewards held an inquiry into the mistake before they disqualified the winner, installing Twinkle as the new winner of the race.
Harrington accepted the blame for the mistake, telling the Racing Post it was simply human error.
“We ran the wrong horse,” Harrington said.
“They are two bay fillies that look exactly the same.
“One has a tiny little bit of white on the back of her hind coronary band but they are the same size and very similar.
“My representative Bubba Amond held his hands up straight away. He had the saddle on by the time I saw her in the ring.
“I apologise to everyone.”
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