Punters at Beverley racecourse were left frustrated after two favourites threw away victory in similar erratic fashion during the same meeting. The first incident occurred in the Birch Flooring Novice Stakes over 1m 4f, where 1-2 favourite Urchin unseated his jockey before the start and then hung left after two furlongs, dropping from an ideal position to last and failing to challenge eventual winner Who's Lope.
Less than an hour later, in the 1m 2f ICS Cleaning Services Handicap, 6-4 favourite Bradbury flashed his tail when in front and hung markedly to his left. Jockey Ryan Sexton tried to correct him, but rival Vietnorm passed him in the final strides. The stewards noted that Bradbury hung right-handed briefly inconveniencing the winner, but found no riding offence.
Trainer Anna Lisa Balding, wife of Andrew Balding, commented on Who's Lope's win: "It was unfortunate what happened to the other horse on the bend, but I think ours will have learned a lot from that and hopefully he’ll come on again." Only one favourite won on the card, Matteo at 11-10, aided by the withdrawal of Arapaho Gold who got upset in the stalls.
The final race of seven was won by 66-1 outsider Anficas Beauty. Social media users expressed frustration, with one writing: "How can it always be favs that something goes wrong twice today and both favs, should have won easy and they just happen to run off a true line for no reason and lose the race."
