Boss escapes serious injury

Triple Melbourne Cup winning jockey Glen Boss was lucky to escape serious injury after a rare false start in a race at Sandown on Wednesday.

The barrier gates opened prematurely in Race Five - the 1200 metre race for mares - just as Boss bought his mount Cheap Thrills into the stalls.

But unprepared for the premature start, Boss was forced to jump off his mount as Cheap Thrills took off without him when the stalls opened.

Cheap Thrills, which was uninjured and captured by the clerk of the course, was then scratched when the race re-started minutes later along with another runner in Delyara in what was a major blow to punters as the Robert Smerdon trained mare was a clear favourite for the race.

Then to make matters worse for those punters that had anchored Cheap Thrills in their quadrellas - with Race Five the first leg - they were given substitute favourite Georgia Miss, which ran unplaced.

The two horses least affected by the false start then fought out the finish with the John McArdle trained Miss Whytwokay - which had been pulled up jockey Craig Newitt as soon as the false start occurred - winning the race from outsider South African which wasn't even in the barriers when the initial false start occurred.

There was also drama earlier in the day for Smerdon when his highly-rated steeplechaser Some Are Bent pulled up lame following the opening race of the day - the Redleap Steeple.

Some Are Bent, one of Victoria's best jumpers, was pulled out of the race by jockey Steven Pateman prior to the last jump.

And unfortunately for jumps supporters there was also another fall in the same race with Destiny Calls crashing at the last jump but fortunately the horse was uninjured although if the present rate of falls in jumps races is not lowered before the end of the season then the sport could again face the threat of being axed by Racing Victoria.