There were hopes that the three-year old colt co-owned by the late cricket legend Shane Warne would win his race in Ipswich, Queensland in a sentimental victory in his honor. However, hopes were dashed when Sacred Oath, who was favorite to win, was pushed dangerously into the rail by other horses in race 2.
Sacred Oath managed to remain on his feet, although jockey Ryan Maloney was sent crashing to the tracks and blacked out when he hit the deck. Luckily, he wasn’t trampled by the other horses and was back up after being treated by ambulance staff.
Sacred Oath was owned by Warne and some of his Australian friends, including sports presenter Hamish McLachlan and actor Shane Jacobson.
His friends spoke of their disappointment after the accident, saying that they had hoped that Sacred Oath could deliver a victory to honor Warne who died from a heart attack in Thailand last week. He was just 52 years old.
Ryan wore a black arm band during the race in Warne’s memory.
Many punters placed smaller bets on Sacred Oath in the lead up to the race, in memory of the one of the greatest cricketers of all time. During his career, he scored more than 3,000 Test runs and remains the highest Test runscorer without a century. He retired from international cricket in 2007 but regularly worked as a media commentator on Australia’s Nine Network.