A frosty reception, runaway carriage and Betfair carnage - bizarre racing tales

The past 12 months have brought with them stories of good and bad in racing – and the downright bizarre. As we bid farewell to 2018, relive some of its weirdest moments

Chapman's prime-time hopes left on ice

Remember when Matt Chapman was a commentator on Dancing On Ice? Possibly not, it was a bit of a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment as the ITV Racing presenter was axed after just one show.

Chapman's rather unique style, familiar to racing fans, received a frosty reception from viewers of the reality TV show. Despite vowing to win over the critics, he wasn't given the opportunity after the show replaced him with Talksport radio host and football commentator Sam Matterface.

Matterface to take over Dancing On Ice role after Chapman axing

Townend's manoeuvre simply bizarre

In a real 'what just happened?' moment, Paul Townend executed one of the most unexpected moves seen on a racecourse at Punchestown in April – as Lee Mottershead put it: "There was Devon Loch's Grand National collapse and there was the Ile De Chypre stun gun affair. Now there is the mystery of Paul Townend and Al Boum Photo."

Approaching the final fence Townend looked to have the Growise Champion Novice Chase all wrapped up, only to try to bypass the obstacle at the last minute, crashing through the wing and carrying out Finian's Oscar at the same time – leaving Davy Russell and The Storyteller to win the race.

That race: Al Boum Photo (Paul Townend) veers right off course taking out Finian's OscarCredit: Niall Carson

Connections, racegoers and punters were left to speculate on the incident until the following day when Townend revealed he thought he had heard a shout and that the fence was being bypassed.

Watch the race replay here, with full result and analysis

"It was a split-second reaction," said Townend. "I wish to apologise to connections and to punters. I’d like to leave this behind me and move on with today’s rides."

Move on he did, scoring a hat-trick including the Grade 1 Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle.

Simply bizarre! Townend hit with 21-day ban after baffling manoeuvre

Presenter's frightening brush with fame

It's not often pop star Will Young features on the front page of the Racing Post – in fact, this was the first time – but feature he did after a car accident involving raceday presenter Robert Hogarth.

Hogarth was lucky to escape uninjured after Young drove into the back of his car while he was standing beside it in a layby.

Presenter Robert Hogarth's car after it was hit by Will Young's Mercedes

"The driver stopped straight away and came running over and was incredibly concerned about how I was," said Hogarth. "I knew straight away that it was Will Young by his voice, rather than being a big fan of his music, and I know he used to ride and his dad used to run The Pheasant Inn in Lambourn."

Young pleaded guilty to careless driving and was given five penalty points, resulting in a six-month driving ban under the totting up procedure.

Will Young leaves court after pleading guilty to careless driving

"I can't tell you how nice he was," added Hogarth. "He totally admitted responsibility and kept checking and rechecking that I was okay, so I feel very sorry for him getting a ban. It was just an accident."

Racing presenter: I could have been killed when pop star Will Young hit my car

A horse walks into a bar . . .

One of comedy's oldest jokes came to life in Chantilly this autumn, but no one involved found it particularly funny.

Punters enjoying a quiet morning in the Le Chantilly PMU bar were sent scattering when a riderless filly from the nearby gallops bucked her way through the bar, promptly doing a u-turn and leaving as fast as she had arrived.

Thankfully both horse and patrons escaped unscathed. Trainer Jean-Marie Beguigne said: "She has a penchant for escape but even so, she was panicked and took a decision completely against a horse's nature. It was extraordinary!"

A horse walks into a bar . . . chaos ensues!

Drama off the course at Ascot

Chantilly followed a similarly frightening incident at Royal Ascot in the summer – where again thankfully no one was injured when a horse-drawn carriage crashed into a shop window after the horses bolted.

One eyewitness told the Racing Post: "It was carnage. The lead horses careered down the road and it looked like people were going to get run over, but everyone was alive to the situation and managed to get out the way."

Nataliya Couture: a carriage crashed into the shop on Ascot High StreetCredit: Jack Haynes

A senior policeman at the scene said on Friday: "It was a miracle no-one was killed."

Also miraculously, the horses involved suffered only minor cuts and abrasions. One person suffered minor injuries, but overall the incident goes down as a hugely lucky escape all around.

Drama in Ascot as horses bolt down high street and carriage crashes into shop

Lights out at Chelmsford

With a course record coming into the race that read 3212, 6-4 favourite Firmament might have been said to know his way home at Chelmsford ahead of a 7f handicap there on the evening of November 13. But even he would surely have struggled when they were plunged into darkness mid-race.

Luckily, all runners came home safely, but the result was declared void due to the judge having insufficient light to call the race – a number of runners were also reported to have been eased down by their jockeys after the lights went out.

Chelmsford's towering floodlights were no match for a power cutCredit: Edward Whitaker

'Winning' trainer Jamie Osborne, who had taken matters into his own hands and filmed his charge Florencio passing the post first, was none too pleased by the decision, but Chelmsford later honoured the prize-money.

Chelmsford abandoned after power cut plunges track into darkness mid-race

Turbulent Tuesday for Betfair

A regular weekday meeting made headlines in February when not one, not two, but three horses were beaten at 1.01 in a Wetherby handicap hurdle – with the winner Pookie Pekan perhaps unsurprisingly backed at 1,000-1 on Betfair.

Leader Northern Girl set off the strange series of events when crumpling on landing after the last, falling into the path of Dulce Panem. Both horses got up and walked away from their falls, leaving Along Came Theo to pick up the lead.

However, Pookie Pekan finished strongest, overtaking the favourite to score by a length and a quarter.

Betfair's Barry Orr said: "This is a first in our 18-year history. We've had plenty of races where two horses have traded at the basement price of 1.01 and got beaten but never three in one race. And then to see a 1,000 [999-1] winner is nothing short of amazing."

Betfair history made after three horses beaten at 1.01 in one race

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