Trainer Jessica Harrington took to Twitter on Wednesday to apologize for the error that saw the wrong horse run in, and cross the wire first, in a 2-year-old maiden at Galway on Tuesday.
Harrington's first-time starter Alizarine (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) had been entered for the race and appeared to run out an eye-catching winner, but it was soon discovered that the stable's 3-year-old filly Aurora Princess (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}), who had nine prior starts for two wins, had mistakenly run instead. Galway stewards disqualified the winner, meaning the race went to the runner-up and pre-race favourite Twinkle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a full-sister to G1 Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) who was making her second start.
Harrington tweeted, “On behalf of all at #TeamJHR I want to apologise to everyone for what happened yesterday. We are particularly sorry for the owners of both fillies but also to anyone else who was impacted by our mistake. It was human error, a mistake that we will learn from. We will ensure that it never happens again. Thankfully both horses are home safe and sound.”
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