Fortuna’s CHANCE TO DANCE runs “2nd” in the “no race” Sydney Cup

The excitement was palpable among the 24 supporters of Fortuna’s recently acquired seven year old Gelding, CHANCE TO DANCE, who were on course to watch him take his place in the A$2m Sydney Cup, run at Royal Randwick last Saturday. Acquired only nine days before at the Inglis Chairmans Sale by John Galvin for A$260k, the horse had brought good form to the race, but had been ignored by the tipsters and betting public ( oh how we love that) and was starting at odds at over 30 to 1. Bouncing away well from the start, rider Damian Lane had CHANCE TO DANCE handy throughout the run in a race run at good tempo. Making a forward move from about the 600 metre mark, he hit the front at the top of the straight, ran strongly all the way to the line, just getting run down in the last few strides by POLARISATION.

All to no avail, because during the race, the Stewards had called a “no race” – this due to the fact that ALMOONQUITH had broken down early in the race and was laying on the track about 100 metres past the winning post and so for safety reasons the Stewards made the call to abandon the race. Unfortunately, six of the fourteen runners did not hear the abandonment call and their riders continued to race on – the other eight runners pulled up.

Prizemoney for 2nd place was A$380k, but of course, with the race being abandoned, no prizemoney is payable.

The good news is that the race has been rescheduled for Saturday 22nd April and CHANCE TO DANCE, who has pulled up super, will take his place in the field, much to the delight of his small army of supporters.