Shambolic scenes at Galway as WRONG horse wins race before being disqualified and trainer issues humiliating apology

DAY TWO of the Galway Festival will be remembered for the wrong reasons as a horse was mistakenly allowed to run in the incorrect race, before going on to win and later disqualified.

It was originally believed that Alzirane had won the 5.15, a maiden for two-year-old fillies.

PA

Jockey Shane Foley originally thought he’d won on Alizarine[/caption]

However, the stewards soon realised that the horse was in fact Aurora’s Princess, a three-year-old also trained by Jessica Harrington.

It meant that horse had to be disqualified and pre-race favourite Twinkle was moved up from second to first.

The huge error only became evident when stewards scanned the horse’s microchip after the race.

They then realised the extent of the cock-up and an enquiry was quickly called.

The stewards report read: “Following a Stewards Enquiry after Race 2 at Galway, Alizarine has been disqualified under Rule 262(iv)c as horse could not be positively identified post race.”

One punter joked: “That’s like playing an U10 in an U7 football match!”

Trainer Harrington told reporters on course that by the time she realised the error it was too late.

She said both horses look very similar and she added: “My assistant Bubba Amond had the saddle on by the time I saw her in the ring. It’s human error and I apologise to everyone.”

Aurora’s Princess was due to run in the 6.45 but was withdrawn from that race.

Harrington took to Twitter to apologise again on Wednesday morning – promising the humiliating error will never happen again.

She wrote: “On behalf of all at #TeamJHR I want to apologise to everyone for what happened yesterday.

“We are particularly sorry for the owners of both fillies but also to anyone else who was impacted by our mistake.

“It was human error, a mistake that we will learn from.

“We will ensure that it never happens again. Thankfully both horses are home safe & sound.”

It’s not the first mix-up to have occurred. Last year two Aidan O’Brien-trained runners were confused in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket and the error was again only discovered after the race.

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