The Eighth Pole: More unbelievable yet true horse racing oddities

On July 19, 2016, jockey Chris Meehan was pretty excited, as he felt he had a very decent mount in a hurdle race at Mercano Racecourse in Italy, and thought he had a great chance of winning the steeplechase event. But his dream of a winning day (and his face) was shattered when his horse went down while trying to clear a jump. He took a hoof to the old kisser and laid in the dirt unconscious, with a very busted-up nose and a huge gash on his chin. When track personnel got to him, it didn't look good.

"The starter came over to help me because I was on my back and choking on my own blood," Meehan told the racing Post in a 2016 interview." 

There was no doubt Meehan was severely messed up and the track ambulance was called for immediately.

But poor Mr. Meehan's day was about to get even worse.

"He (the starter) put me in the recovery position with my right leg straight out," Meehan said. "The racecourse ambulance came up alongside us and reversed onto my leg. They stopped it (the ambulance) on top of my leg, so I started screaming; it (the leg) broke straight away. Everyone around me had to push it (the ambulance) off me."

Chris Meehan came away from the horse accident with a broken nose and a split jaw that required 27 stitches to close. But he received a new and exciting broken leg and a dislocated ankle courtesy of the top-notch ambulance crew that ran him over while trying to aid the injured jockey.

"What makes it worse is my father, brother, auntie, they're all ambulance people," Meehan said. "My father actually teaches most people in Northern Ireland and England how to drive the ambulance!"

But the young jockey proved he still had a bit of a sense of humor left. "It's bizarre, you couldn't make it up. You have to laugh, really." 

And even more unbelievable is Meehan barely had healed up from that terrible day when he broke the same leg four months later in a trampoline accident.

Jockey starts the race on one horse but finishes on another?

The Christmas Handicap is a huge event that's held every year in South Australia at Morphettville Racecourse. 

Seventeen-year-old jockey Andrew Payne was extremely proud to be riding Hon Kwok Star in the big race and his brother-in-law, Jason Patton also happened to be riding a horse named Cogitate in the contest. They gave each other a quick glance and a nod as they were loaded into the gate. The start was uneventful, as was most of the race but on the final turn, the in-law's horses collided.

Patton was unseated from Cogitate and tumbled to the turf in a heap and in that same exact moment, Hon Kwok Star launched Payne into the side of Cogitate and Payne hung on for dear life. While his brother-in-law was still tumbling on the turf, the young rider hauled himself up into the vacant saddle, grabbed the reins, and rode the horse to the finish line.

"My hands landed on the other saddle and I just pulled myself up," Payne said. "When I looked up and saw where I was I couldn't believe it."

The horse didn't hit the board but the end result was Payne started the race on a 12/1 shot named Hon Kwok Star and crossed the wire on the back of a very confused Cogitate, who was 33/1.

Jockey takes 28 years to win his first race, then retires

Anthony Knott was a jockey who rode in races on the southwest side of England for 28-years and the poor man had never, ever won a race. In fact, he never even hit the board, as the best placing in his career was a distant fifth-place finish. But in 2008, in a race at Wincanton Racecourse, the veteran losing jockey found himself in very unfamiliar territory. He was actually in front of the entire field with only a furlong to go. But old losing habits are hard to break. The crowd at Wincanton were fully aware that the rider had never won a race and as they applauded the front-running horse and rider, Knott stood up in the irons and waved to the cheering crowd.

But he hadn't crossed the wire yet and his antics enabled a horse to sneak up the rail and almost snatch the rider's lone victory away. "It was just instinct to stand up and give them a wave," Knott said, "I wasn't thinking straight for a minute. Then I thought 'O God,' it's not over yet and I could hear another horse coming up behind me so I set back down and got on with it."

After finally bagging his first and only winner, Knott immediately retired from race riding. "I just wanted to win one race," he said.

"I've done that now, so I think I'll leave it at that."

The dairy farmer/jockey may have only won a single race in 28 years but at least he went out a winner.

Horse wins but nobody bet on him?

On December 17, 1934, at Charles Town Racetrack, a winning payoff was made by the track on the second-place finisher.

But this wasn't a case where the winner was disqualified but rather a very rare case of no one having a bet on the winning horse.

Sweep Vestal crossed the wire 5-lengths to the good but there was a long delay in posting the payoffs while the confused officials decided what to do. They eventually decided to pay off the winning position to the runner-up. Tiny Miss was awarded the win and the officials made believe that Sweep Vestal didn't win the race. A $2 win ticket on Sweep Vestal would have returned $1,318.50 to a single lucky bettor had there been one. The prices on the tote board showed Tiny Miss returned $6.80, 3.20, and 2.40 across the board. Sweep Vestal paid $105.80 and 7.60 and Quick Wit paid $2.60 to show.

After the race, the track posted signs trying to explain the rare occurrence but fans were confused and angry, as most had already thrown away their tickets. Just before the race went off, the tote showed Sweep Vestal's odds at 20/1 but no one could explain how the mutual department came up with those numbers.

Yes, folks. Every day is surely a true adventure in horse racing.