For a horse to run wildly off course not once, but twice and still almost win means that Spicer Cub’s jockey Xavier Perez is a bit of a legend.
A normal Saturday one-and-a-bit mile race at Pimlico racecourse in Baltimore has become a bit of an internet sensation after a very dramatic performance by one of the runners.
A horse called Spicer Cub (No 12, in yellow silks) went off third favourite but took the early lead. Then the horse appeared to bolt for the nearby road about halfway around the track. Perez managed to wrestle the animal back into the race, and into contention, before the horse took its own route again, heading way off course to the near rail.
But once again Perez, now with his feet out of the irons, managed to get things back under control and he drove for the line. Sadly, the fairytale was not to be as a horse called Turbin held on to win by a nose.
Skip to 1.10 for the start of the race.
As the commentator said, it was wild ride, a sentiment the jockey agreed with afterwards.
“It was wild,” Perez told Daily Racing Form. “He didn’t give me any warning, especially the second time and went straight for the gate. My life went before my eyes for a few seconds. I was thinking about bailing but saw there was enough space between the gate and the rail to get through, so I grabbed his mane and hoped for the best. Once we cleared the gate he re-broke again and almost won the race. It was really close. In fact, Forest Boyce [the rider on Turbin] congratulated me after the wire.
Yet more proof that jockeys are a different sort of person to the rest of us.
Hat-tip to James Dart for the video.
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