With two horses breaking down, club's Halloween bash turns tragic

The sad irony of it may have been lost on those at the Jockey Club's marketing department who came up with the 'Phantom Of The Races' theme for last night's Halloween meeting at Happy Valley, but the story played out in tragically eerie fashion with two horses breaking down in running and another favourite scratched after being trapped under the gates.

The plot of the Gaston Leroux novel, The Phantom Of The Opera, from which the modern musical was adapted and the night's theme was taken, was the story of a mysterious ghost under the Paris Opera House, who wrought chaos and destruction on the opera when displeased.

The phantom promised catastrophe to the opera unless he was permanently reserved a private box at the shows and paid a monthly stipend. As last night rolled on, it became clear that someone at the Jockey Club forgot to hand over this month.

Solar Empire was leading at the 450m mark when he broke down and abruptly ducked right, taking Wealthy Treasure, That's It (Brett Prebble) and Victory Start (Anthony Delpech) out of the race with him and Delpech was lucky to stay in the saddle.

For Telecom Owner, the end came turning into the back straight in his race when without warning the three-year-old broke down badly and fell back sharply on the runners behind him, notably Prebble's mount Wonderful Blessing. But the Australian's reflexes were finely tuned after the earlier incident and he remarkably whipped out around Telecom Owner with his mount barely even breaking stride.

The third incident saw the Caspar Fownes-trained Brilliant Flash contesting favouritism in the betting for race six when he got down and caught under the gates seconds before the race was due to jump, which forced his withdrawal.

'He's only got a few cuts and scratches, though we'll know more tomorrow when he's cooled down,' said Fownes, who nevertheless managed a double on the card with Viva Fighter and Hold Hands, both ridden by Jacky Tong Chi-kit.