Watch: Blindfolded horse causes chaos at Windsor after breaking free from stalls

Telegraph

10 hours ago

Windsor officials were forced to void a race on Monday after a blindfolded horse broke free and charged through a plastic running rail, resulting in five jockeys landing bans for failing to stop as the chaos unfolded
The five-furlong Apprentice Handicap was due to begin at 4:52pm on Monday when Beaumadier, ridden by Conor Whiteley, appeared to anticipate the stalls opening.
That movement appeared to spook Master Zack alongside it, as the three-year-old bay colt reared up under Ryan Kavanagh, with the gates triggered in the melee.
A blindfold had been required to get Master Zack into the stalls and Kavanagh had not had a chance to remove it when the stalls flew open.
Kavanagh stepped on to the side of the stalls and Master Zack ran away with the blindfold on, breaking through a couple of the plastic rails, but was caught and reported to be none the worse for the experience.
That left six running over the five furlongs, including Beaumadier who was very slowly away after his stalls incident and detached from the group, with Tommie Jakes passing the post first on Michael Attwater's Cabeza De Llave.
However, as the starter was waving his flag to abandon the start, the five jockeys who finished the race were deemed to have fallen foul of event regulations and were each handed 10-day bans for ignoring requests to stop.
Jakes told Sky Sports Racing: 'I wouldn't have seen the starter waving a flag as I was drawn wide. I don't know why it was a false start anyway.
'I know a horse reared up just as I left the gates, but I didn't think anything of it, really. I did hear a bit of screaming at the start, but I thought that was when the one reared up.
'We just heard on the commentary and I didn't see any flag, so I just carried on.'
Jack Doughty, Jack Dace, Taryn Langley and Alec Voikhansky all completed the course on their respective mounts and, along with Jakes, received a 10-day suspension for failing to pull up.
Richard Westropp, chief stipendiary steward, said: 'Stall two [Beaumadier], the door flapped back into his path as the start was activated, so on the basis of that the starter called a false start.
'His flag was raised as it should be. All the horses ran but stall four [Master Zack] got loose.
'On the basis of the starter calling a false start, the recall man was stood right in the middle of the track, he waved his flag and blew his whistle, so procedures were followed to a tee.
'The jockeys told us in the inquiry they did not see the flag or hear the whistle, bar Mr Whiteley who did on horse number two, who actually activated the false start in the first place. He did see and made every effort to pull up his horse up.
'All the jockeys bar Conor Whiteley and Ryan Kavanagh have been banned for 10 days. Every jockey is entitled to an appeal.'
Dace's ban will run from September 3-13 inclusive, while the other four riders will be sidelined from September 1-10.