Tom Marquand was denied a winner at Yarmouth on Thursday when he came off his horse with victory in sight. The bizarre incident occurred during the British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Stakes in which Marquand was riding the Godolphin two-year-old Al Hudaiba.
The Charlie Appleby-trained grey was 10-11 favourite to add to his debut victory at Newmarket 13 days earlier. All appeared to be going to plan with Al Hudaiba getting on top of newcomer Byzantine, ridden by Billy Loughnane, approaching the furlong pole.
But the son of Dark Angel suddenly jinked to the right, giving Marquand little chance of staying aboard. Byzantine kept going to record the win.
Describing the action, the Yarmouth commentator Alex Fussey said: “Al Hudaiba has jinked and unseated the rider. Drama inside the furlong. That’s left Byzantine in the clear. What drama in the final 100 yards. It will be Byzantine to win in very dramatic fashion. Tom Marquand is kneeling up, I can confirm. He seems okay, albeit winded.”
Reviewing the incident Sky Sports Racing reporter Jason Weaver said: “What was that? What did he see there? That was very, very strange. He just took a jink. There is nothing wrong with the track. Obviously this is hot on the heels of what happened up at Haydock the other day.”
The incident occurred while Marquand’s wife Hollie Doyle is in hospital having broken her left leg in a fall at Bath last Friday. She is awaiting further surgery as a result of a complex fracture to the tibia and fibula which is likely to keep her out of action for much of the summer.
Marquand, who took his next at Yarmouth, said: ‘I was wondering if there were double beds in hospitals as I might have joined Hollie. Luckily I’m alright. It was bizarre. He was stepping towards Billy who was on his left. I went for a bit of a regrab to get him rolling and he just stepped the opposite way pretty sharp. At least he’s all right and I got up all right too.’
The stewards' report said: "Tom Marquand, the rider of AL HUDAIBA was unseated just inside the final furlong. Tom Marquand was interviewed and shown recordings of the incident. It was found that no other horse or rider was involved and was caused by the colt initially drifting left-handed before sharply ducking right-handed, unseating the rider."
