At The Races

False start chaos at Longchamp
05 Oct 2008

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There was drama at the start of the Prix de l'Abbaye after a false start was called despite over half the field racing for well over three furlongs.

In scenes reminiscent of the infamous Esha Ness race that never was in the 1993 Grand National, jockeys were looking at each other in amazement. One horse failed to leave the stalls as Fleeting Spirit's gate refused to open.

Unfortunately, the Hungarian raider Overdose blazed a trail at the head of affairs and completed the course but by the end of the five-furlong race not many were still racing.

Confusion followed but news later filtered through that the race would be rescheduled to be re-run at 5.30pm, with the strong likelihood of a depleted field.

Jockey Darryll Holland was on board Kevin Ryan's Desert Lord and told BBC Sport: "There was so much confusion down at the start, they took an age to load them up. Nobody knew if it was a false start or not and when I saw horses coming round me I just thought I'd better keep going.

"I couldn't stop my lad anyway, I was a passenger, when those sprinters get rolling there is no stopping them. He's just run flat out for five furlongs so I wouldn't have thought Kevin would run him again later on."

Fleeting Spirit banged her head twice on the unopened stalls and a decision will be made later on her participation.

Trainer Jermey Noseda said: "Ryan didn't realise what had gone wrong, he thought he had asked her to jump too quick and then he realised they had gone. I've never seen it in my life and I hope I never see it again.

"Ryan said she banged herself a couple of times trying to get out and and she twisted a shoe so she is being re-shod now. I've made a decision that we'll see how she is in a couple of hours to see if we are happy with her."

Sandor Ribarszki, trainer of Overdose, said: "I don't think we are going to run again. I am very very unhappy - we have come 1700km for nothing."