The Sydney Cup has been called off mid-race after two horses lost their riders with a round to go in the A$2 million staying feature.
Who Shot Thebarman and Almoonqith parted company with their riders Blake Shinn and James Doyle as the field worked out of the home straight. The incident stemmed from Almoonqith fracturing a hind leg and with him and rider James Doyle being prone on the track, stewards made the decision to call the race off.
As the field worked down the back straight, riders in the back half of the field realised the situation after and eased their mounts out of the race, but several horses further ahead continued on.
Among these were Polarisation and recent New Zealand acquisition Chance to Dance. They fought out the finish down the home straight with Polarisation proving superior, only for his jockey Corey Brown and others to realise on pulling up that the race had been ruled null and void.
In the aftermath, Almoonqith was humanely euthanised, Sky TV outrider Bernadette Cooper eventually captured the riderless Who Shot Thebarman and ATC officials were deliberating on a decision whether to reschedule the Sydney Cup.
In another bizarre incident on one of Australia's biggest days of racing, the final three races at Caulfield had to abandoned after a lightning storm hit the course.
