A tragic two-horse fall, which involved the 2025 champion and resulted in the death of another horse, has marred what should have been a fairytale finish to the 150th running of the Caulfield Cup for victorious trainer Gavin Bedggood and Irish jockey John Allen.
While Bedggood and jockey Allen celebrated their first victory in the $6 million group 1 race, they were unaware of the carnage that unfolded behind them.
The mounting yard was sent into shock as medical staff raced to treat jockeys Mark Zahra (Half Yours) and Jye McNeil (Ohope Wins), who were left lying on the course, while galloper Ohope Wins suffered fatal injuries.
Stewards were able to quickly calm worried family and connections of the jockeys by releasing a statement to say both would be taken to hospital but had escaped serious injury.
The second horse involved in the devastating tumble – Half Yours, the winner of last year’s Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup double – quickly regained his feet and was gathered in by a clerk of the course.
Worried trainer Tony McEvoy sprinted onto the track to check up on Zahra in a dramatic finish to the Cup, and then returned to the mounting yard grim faced, but relieved to tell stressed connections his horse had suffered a laceration but was OK.
A green tarp was erected around the Chris Waller-trained Ohope Wins in the home straight. The mare was euthanised.
Waller was not on the course. The champion trainer had stayed in Sydney to prepare his sprinter Joliestar for The Everest.
Stewards immediately opened an inquiry into the cause of the tragic fall, which blackened the day.
The nervous excitement of Half Yours’ owners as the runners were being loaded into the stalls turned into disbelief two minutes later when their champion fell.
Some in the ownership group were in tears, unsure of the horse’s welfare. Their emotions were in contrast to the ecstasy 12 months ago when they won the first leg of Victorian racing’s fabled Cups double.
“To have the excitement and the highs we had last year and [to have] this happen today, we love the horse,” managing part-owner Jason Biasin said minutes after the race.
“You just hope he’s OK. We hope Mark’s OK.”
Half Yours came down moments after Kings Valley, ridden by Jabez Johnstone, ran in as a result of a buffeting duel with Rachel King’s Green Spaces shortly after rounding the turn. Ohope Wins was unable to avoid Half Yours and fell several strides later.
After the race, King said: “[It was] just a messy-run race from where we were.”
This masthead is not suggesting that any jockey caused the fall. The stewards’ findings are yet to be determined.
Rival jockey Craig Williams turned his attention to his colleagues as he left the track.
“My thoughts, most importantly, are with the horses and riders that fell,” he said.
The race result was a big moment for former jumps jockey Bedggood, who has long been seen as an heir apparent to dominant trainer Ciaron Maher, as his grey Kingswood overcame a bad draw to sit three wide and win the race from Saint George and Enfjaar.
“I was gutted when I saw it [the wide barrier] and thought we had to go back,” Bedggood said, unaware at that stage of details surrounding the tragic circumstances of the race.
“You speak to people that you need to speak to and I had a chat to Johnny [Allen] yesterday and said, ‘You’re riding it, you’ve drawn 17’.
“I’ve ridden in races and it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and say I want you to do this, I want you to do that, but it’s not an easy task from we here drew. I pretty much left it in his hands.
“We were pretty much posted three-wide all the way and everyone wanted to question the horse’s credentials at a mile-and-a-half. We couldn’t condemn him on his run here, it was on a [track rating of] heavy 9 and you had to put a line through it. It’s great to be vindicated.”
He said he was grateful to former trainer Darren Weir, who told Kingswood’s owners to consider him as a training option.
“He told the owners to send the horse my way, so I’m really grateful for that,” Bedggood said.
“When I got it, he told me it reminded him of Puissance De Lune, not because it’s a grey, but because it’s tough, it’s got a good constitution and it’s got a good capacity. He was bang on with everything he said.”
Allen said: “Gavin, he’s a trainer going places, we’ll be hearing a lot more of him after I’m retired.”
Shinn makes amends
Jockey Blake Shinn made up for the disappointment of being shelved for a Caulfield Cup ride on Saturday by taking out the other group 1 on the program – the $1.5million group 1 Caulfield Guineas on Saintly Dancer.
Shinn, who missed nine months of riding after breaking his leg on Melbourne Cup day last year, copped a nasty surprise during the week when told by trainer Ciaron Maher he would not be partnering Royal Supremacy in the $6 million group 1 classic.
Maher told the star hoop that he had double-booked the ride, instead handing the reins to visiting UK jockey Jamie Spencer. It was a head-scratching decision considering the woeful record of international riders in our classic races.
But Maher threw Shinn a handy consolation prize. He also trains Saintly Dancer.
“[It was the] first Group 1 since I’ve been back, it certainly hasn’t been an easy road, but you just keep turning up and put the work in, and you get repaid with a big winner here today,” Shinn said after going back-to-back in the race.
“It’s all worth it and I just want to thank everyone who’s supported me and my circle and outside too for that matter, the racing industry has been wonderful so it’s nice to come back on a big day and show what we’re made of.”
Shinn was also one to look forward, overlooking Maher’s choice of Cup riders when praising the trainer.
“It takes a really tough horse and that’s what the Maher stable is all about, they turn up on these big days, they’re fit, and she’s put the writing on the wall all prep,” he said.
The jockey’s expected $45,000 payday for the winning ride will also cover a fine from earlier in the Caulfield program. The jockey was slugged $1000 for excessive use of the whip on beaten favourite Private Eye in race 5.
Maher will also have to hand over $2000 after a treatment mishap involving his imported stayer Point Of Law at the Werribee quarantine centre on Saturday morning.
Maher’s right-hand man Jack Turnbull pleaded guilty to racing stewards on behalf of the trainer for using Gastropell on the galloper – a paste to prevent gastric ulcers – which is in breach of racing rules on a race day.
Point Of Law was subsequently scratched from the Caulfield Cup, which was a moot point – as the third emergency, he wasn’t getting a start.
Maher’s stable hand, Samantha Waters, who usually cares for Pride Of Jenni, was also fined over the same incident after using inappropriate language towards stewards.
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