There was high drama at Killarney on Saturday after it emerged that the John Feane-trained Ano Manna, who was first past the post in the Tote.ie Handicap, was actually stablemate Indigo Five.
Feane had entered Ano Manna for what was the third race on the day at 3.05pm, and the horse carrying her owner’s silks and ridden by Leigh Roche duly won with ease as the 7-2 favourite.
However, around 20 minutes after the race, an objection was lodged by the stewards under Rule 262, which relates to a horse’s identity coming into question.
An inquiry established the ‘winner’ was in fact Feane’s other runner at the meeting, Indigo Five, who had been incorrectly saddled. Ano Manna was therefore disqualified and declared a non-runner. Indigo Five was also declared a non-runner in the 5.20pm, as she had already run.
Senior stipendiary steward Liam Walsh said: “Ano Manna never ran so it is declared a non-runner and from a betting point of view, is declared a non-runner. The inquiry is not over yet and we have to get through the nuts and bolts of the issue.
“It takes time to verify the sequence of events but once the events are established, the raceday stewards have the power to demote, disqualify or declare a horse a non-runner for a breach of these rules.”
He added: “Mr Feane came in and it transpires they saddled the wrong horse, so their other runner Indigo Five is now a non-runner as it already ran.”
Trainer John Feane later joined Donn McClean on Racing TV to discuss the incident and explained that "human error" was the reason for the mix up.
"It's human error," said Feane. "These things happen. I was delayed getting to the races and the horse raced. I've apologised to the owners already and it's cost everyone money.
"I fancied both horses. It certainly cost Ray (owner of Indigo Five) and Ano Manna's owner James Stanley, who is an important owner, as are all my owners.
"My horse was tacked up, I arrived ten minutes late. I noticed immediately down at the stable yard that it was the wrong horse. It is just an unfortunate series of events. It's history now. People study history to know why things go wrong."
The official stewards' report stated Feane accepted the error though he did not saddle the horse himself, but instead delegated the task to Fergus Gallagher as he was delayed in arriving at the track.
Gallagher knew the horses in question but as they bear a resemblance to one another, there was evidently some confusion surrounding their identities, the report said. Feane was fined €3,000 as a result of the incident.
