Champion jockey Douglas Whyte left Sha Tin yesterday with little to show for his winning double after stewards pinned him with the blame after a spectacular fall for top apprentice Alex Lai Hoi-wing.
Hong Kong's leading apprentice jockey this season with 13 wins, Lai was tossed to the turf like a rag doll after his mount, the Peter Ho-trained Golden Farm, weakened after leading and clipped the heels of Whyte's mount, Red Storm Rising, past the 200-metre mark.
The tiring horse stumbled, throwing off his rider and the apprentice was lucky to escape serious injury, as the horse following behind him, Star Of Lihlin, narrowly missed trampling the teenager on the way through. Lai squatted on the track for some time after the heavy fall but, though stood down from his remaining rides, he was later reported by the Jockey Club to have emerged without any significant injury.
The apprentice said he hoped to ride work this morning and chief steward Jamie Stier said Lai could be declared for rides at Wednesday's Happy Valley meeting.
'Obviously we will be monitoring Alex Lai's condition to be sure he is fit to ride and we are encouraging people who declare for the meeting to declare a substitute rider as well,' Stier said, adding that the substitute rider need not be an apprentice.
The fall was part of a day of ill luck all around for the Peter Ho stable, to which Lai is attached, as the trainer was also in a car accident during the afternoon with his family when the vehicle he was travelling in was struck from behind.