Wrong-horse farce at Killarney sees winner disqualified as older stablemate mistakenly runs instead

The result of the tote.ie Handicap was amended after it was discovered that first-past-the-post Ano Manna was in fact stablemate Indigo Five, who had mistakenly run in place of the three-year-old filly.

The horse thought to have been Ano Manna had run out a convincing winner under Leigh Roche, but some 20 minutes after the race had finished it was discovered that the identity of the horse was in fact the four-year-old filly Indigo Five, who had been due to run in the concluding 1m3f maiden at 5.20 and was inevitably withdrawn from that contest.

The stewards used their powers under rule 226 to amend the result. The race was awarded to 10-1 shot Bang Po, trained by Ross O'Sullivan and ridden by Donagh O'Connor. Ano Manna was declared to be a non-runner.

The trainer of Ano Manna and Indigo Five, John Feane, was fined €3,000 by the stewards and held his hands up over the incident.

He told Racing TV: "It's human error. I was unfortunately delayed getting to the races. I was stuck in traffic and got here ten minutes late. I have apologised to the owners, this has cost everyone money. The wrong horse was tacked up and I noticed the error immediately when I arrived in the stable yard.

"It's history now, but people study history to discover where things go wrong. At point-to-points we scan every horse before they go into the parade ring. Maybe in the future it might help trainers and stable staff if that was brought in at race meetings instead of just scanning the winner after the race. But on saying that, I'm not blaming anyone bar myself. 

"I've accepted the fine. I have the right to appeal but I'm not going to.

"I would like to apologise as sincerely as I can to the punters and the owners. I will put this behind me and go forward." 

Paddy Power announced they were paying out on Ano Manna and also settling on the official result.

The last incident of this sort in Ireland was when the Jessica Harrington-trained Alizarine was disqualified from a two-year-old maiden at the 2021 Galway festival when it was discovered the three-year-old filly Aurora Princess had mistakenly run in her place.

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