http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg__h2yMW3I
The Group 1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan got off to a false start when B.B.Guldan dumped its rider and took off.
And it kept taking off with no one seemingly interested in stopping it.
Perhaps they were just hoping it would tire and stop all by itself.
But it kept galloping as the crowd kept roaring it on like barbarians when Christians were once fed to the lions.
How we wish race-goers stop behaving like dumbass yobs.
This does nothing for the sport and simply adds fuel to the fire of animal rights lobbyists.
B..B. Gulden finally decided it had had enough and after ten minutes of galloping around, went back home and only then did some Japanese officials run onto the track.
Talk about shutting the barnyard door after the horse had bolted.
As for the race – and when it finally got off and running twelve minutes later than scheduled – it was over before one could blink.
Boy, with a fast track, the horses went even faster than usual.
Favourite Rocket Man from Singapore with the great Felix Coetzee aboard came a disappointing fourth.
Perhaps all that milling around behind the barriers took its toll on the horse as it just did not have its usual dash nor usual finish.
It never looked like winning.
The winner – with great ease – was 18 to 1 shot Curren Chan, a 4-year-old filly ridden by K.Ikezoe.
In fact, Japanese horses filled the first three places with outsider Pas De Trois coming second and A Shin Virgo third.
Hong Kong’s Lucky Nine came – we think – fifth – and with Green Birdie not far behind.
But, all in all, a very disappointing race, and badly “man-handled” by officials who acted and re-acted like the Keystone Cops.
We wouldn’t put too much relevance to the results.
This race was more of a DISG-race to Japanese racing.
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