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Jockeys fume after Almoonqith dies and Sydney Cup is bizarrely called off mid-race

Adam Pengilly
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Some of the country's leading jockeys labelled a mid-race decision by stewards to call off the $2 million Sydney Cup as "farcical" after a horse broke down in the early stages of the race and couldn't be shifted from the track.

Racing NSW stewards made the call to abandon the race at around the 1600-metre mark as the Sydney Cup field swung into the back straight, almost a minute after Almoonqith struck trouble about 100 metres after the winning post following the first lap sparking confusion on track.

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Sydney Cup sensationally abandoned mid-race

Stayer Almoonqith was euthanised after breaking down as his jockey and the rider of Who Shot Thebarman were both thrown from the horses.

The trouble caused Almoonqith's rider James Doyle - who was stood down for the rest of the day with a knee injury - to struggle to crawl from the track after being dislodged from his horse.

He was being aided by Who Shot Thebarman's rider Blake Shinn, who also became unseated from his mount. Almoonqith was later euthanised.

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Chief steward Marc van Gestel and his deputy Phillip Dingwall debated whether Almoonqith's presence near the rail shortly after the winning post and Doyle's struggle to get off the track should result in the race being called off.

They decided to do so and radioed the official starter, who was near the 800-metre mark, to scream at the riders as they approached that point the race had been called off for safety reasons.

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There are no sirens at Randwick which are used in other racing jurisdictions to alert participants to a no race.

Only about half of the remaining riders retired their horses out of the race with at least six mounts vigorously ridden out to the finish of the race, including Godolphin's European duo Polarisation and Penglai Pavilion who had been shipped from the northern hemisphere just for this race.

Corey Brown's mount Polarisation was eventually first past the post with Chance To Dance in second and Penglai Pavilion in third, but it counted for nothing.

"There was no sign and that was a farce," Brown bristled. "We just kept on racing. [The Almoonqith incident] happened after the winning post and we knew what was going on. I was running fourth [at the time] and I knew something had happened.

"If they're coming head on at us, [that's fine]. They shouldn't have been yelling out. Going past the post I heard the crowd roar and [racecaller] Darren Flindell say one had broken down. Why come out? One's broken down and it was a furlong after the winning post. If it was at the 100 metre mark [before the post] I could understand."

Damien Oliver also blasted the decision of stewards while Kerrin McEvoy, who rode Penglai Pavilion, was just as perplexed with the call.

There was no sign and that was a farce ... We just kept on racing.

"If it was 100 metres before the winning post then fair enough," McEvoy said. "But we would have seen it pulling up and we would have been able to get out of its way. I just think the race should have been let run.

"When we were hearing the calls I thought something was coming back at us. Maybe a horse had turned around and was galloping back at us."

But van Gestel and his panel said they had no other option but the call off the race, which is one of the signature events of the Sydney autumn carnival.

"We've got to err on the side of caution," van Gestel said.

"We were concerned as Almoonqith remained motionless on the track and had the potential to get up and run back towards the field, and also assessing James Doyle and Blake Shinn, the stewards at that point in time in the order of safety and to ensure that nobody was going to be further hurt we declared the Sydney Cup a no race."

The Australian Turf Club will decide on Sunday if it can reschedule the race, which has been staged for more than 150 years.

Anzac Day looms as a potential date for the race to be re-run if the ATC pursues that path.

It is unclear what global racing giant Godolphin will do with Penglai Pavilion and Polarisation given they had travelled to Australia just for the Sydney Cup.

They have been prepared at Canterbury's quarantine centre and were due to leave in advance of racing returning to the track on April 26.

Race favourite Big Duke was backing up from his Chairman's Handicap win just seven days earlier and another run at the end of an already arduous campaign would be tricky.

"If there wasn't a horse running back through the field [why abandon it]? They've all just run two miles and I would have thought it would have been easy to shoo their horse away from the area," said Big Duke's owner and Australian Bloodstock principal Jamie Lovett.

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