Hong Kong showed it was far from immune to race falls yesterday when spectacular tumbles in the first and last races at Sha Tin left top jockey Brett Prebble and leading apprentice Vincent Ho Chak-yiu sprawled on the turf with upper body and arm fractures.
Serious falls have been mercifully absent from Hong Kong racing in recent seasons but that changed in the blink of an eye when Prebble suffered a fractured collarbone in the first race that will keep him out of action for at least five weeks. Ho's crash in the final event looked even nastier before he was assessed with a fractured left forearm.
Probing for a tight run on the outside of the leader, Bullish King, Ho's mount Guru's Dream was suddenly sandwiched between that horse and Happy Reunion with nowhere to go but down as he struck their heels.
Ho was hurled to the ground and struck by his own falling horse. Adoration, which was following Ho and Guru's Dream, could not avoid the apprentice and galloped over him, appearing to clip him with one of its hooves on the way through.
Ho was conscious but rushed to nearby Prince of Wales hospital for a CT scan. It was initially suspected that he had broken both his left leg and arm. While the apprentice was later cleared of any leg break, Jockey Club officials confirmed Ho had suffered a fractured left forearm.
Ho reported to club officials that he heard 'a loud bang like a gun going off' which may have been as Adoration made contact with his arm.