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Horses and their jockeys continued racing despite frantic attempts to stop
them
1993: Grand National ends in 'shambles'
England have
The Grand National has ended in chaos after a series of events at the start
which reduced the world-famous horse race to a shambles.
An estimated 300 million people aruond the world were watching the race,
held at the Aintree racecourse in Liverpool, live on television, when 30 of the
39 riders failed to realise a false start had been called and set off around the
racetrack.
The Jockey Club was forced to declare the race void after several riders
completed both laps of the gruelling 30-obstacle course and passed the finish
line before they realised their mistake.
Aintree has said it is unlikely the race will be re-run, and bookmakers are
faced with repaying the 5 million in bets placed on the race.
False starts
The disastrous sequence of events began seconds before the race was due to
start, when protestors got onto the track near the first fence.
They were spotted, and after a delay, the race officials asked horses and
riders to line up again.
Then there were two false starts caused by horses getting tangled up with
the starting tape. On the second false start, the recall flag, which signals
riders to pull up once they have started, was not waved, and all but nine riders
raced away.
The recall man, Ken Evans, is being interviewed by stewards to find out why
he did not wave his flag.
Frantic shouting
The crowd shouted frantically at the jockeys to get them to stop, and
officials tried desperately to flag them down from the side of the track, but
without success.
In the end, 11 riders had completed the first circuit before pulling up,
and seven never realised anything was wrong, racing right to the finish line in
the four-and-a-half-mile (7 km) race.
Esha Ness, a 50-1 outsider trained by Jenny Pitman and ridden by John
White, crossed the line first. "I could see there were only a few horses around,
but I thought the others had fallen or something," White said after the
race.
Mrs Pitman, who became the first woman to train a first Grand National
winner in 1983 with Corbiere, was devastated.
"This is no Grand National, even though I have won it," she said.
The owner of Esha Ness, Patrick Bancroft, is understood to be considering
suing Aintree over the 6,000 prize money for first place.
David Pipe, spokesman for The Jockey Club, said there would be an urgent
inquiry into the incident.
The Dark Blues crossed the finishing line in 20 minutes, 23 seconds
1954: Oxford wins 100th Boat Race
Artificially 1969:
The Oxford has won the 100th Boat Race in rough conditions on the River
Thames.
The victorious Dark Blues beat Cambridge - also known as the Light Blues -
by four-and-a-half lengths despite windy conditions and rough waters along the
four-and-a-quarter mile (6.84km) course from Putney to Mortlake.
The Dark Blues, who have won the race just 11 times in the last 38 races,
must now be hoping today's victory in a winning time of 20 minutes, 23 seconds,
will turn the tide.
The Oxford team began the race in the lead despite a lighter average weight
than their rivals (12st 4lbs vs 12st 11lbs).
Surged ahead
They had won the toss and chose to start the race from the Surrey station
with Cambridge setting off from the Middlesex station.
It was a close contest until about half way through the race when Oxford
surged ahead.
The increasingly rough weather conditions did nothing to dampen the Oxford
crew's quest for victory.
By the time the Dark Blues reached the Chiswick steps they were 11 seconds
ahead and the result of the race already seemed in little doubt.
For a fleeting moment, off Duke's Meadows, it looked as if Cambridge might
make a last dash for victory but Oxford kept them at bay.
Oxford crossed the finish line at 34 strokes per minute after averaging an
impressive 30 throughout the race.
Vocabulary:
frantically : 疯狂地 |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:23:33