Queen Elizabeth II Cup day was less than 12 seconds from a flawless execution when popular jockey Gerald Mosse and his mount Equator Kid had a sickening fall just 200 metres from the winning post in the final event.
What looked like an horrific accident ultimately had a happy ending, at least in relative terms. About 90 minutes after the last race, doctors at Tai Po Hospital declared the Frenchman had no broken bones and had regained consciousness. Mosse, however, suffered lacerations to the face and had a fracture above an eye. He was being kept overnight for observation with his condition described as 'stable'.
Mosse was knocked unconscious in the fall and his left arm flopped to the ground like a rag doll's while Equator Kid scrambled to his feet and began bucking in protest at the discomfort of a slipped saddle. The big crowd at the feature meeting, especially his family and colleagues, feared the worst because the Frenchman hit the ground very hard, just as he had been angling around the heels of winner Mine Host to present Equator Kid for his widely anticipated final challenge.
A win in the final event would have completed a pretty neat day at the office for Mosse, who had earlier won the fifth event on Wise Choice for trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung and had piloted Elegant Fashion into second place in the $14 million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup. But instead, he left Sha Tin in an ambulance, leaving behind a funeral-like atmosphere as everyone hoped and prayed he would be OK.
Jockey Glyn Schofield, who rode last-race winner Mine Host and completed a winning double, probably said it best. 'I've won a double on the second-biggest day in Hong Kong racing for the year, but seeing Gerald's fall sure takes the gloss off it. I certainly don't feel like a winner,' he said.
Stewards have adjourned an inquiry into the fall until Mosse is fit to give evidence. The Hong Kong Jockey Club, while awaiting news of Mosse's condition, saw fit to cancel its planned press conference with the connections of QE II Cup hero Eishin Preston.
