This horrifying incident occurred when Christophe Soumillon, a rival jockey, pushed Rossa Ryan from a horse mid-race.
Soumillon, a recent Coral-Eclipse winner, experienced a moment of insanity as a jockey in Ecuador received a lifelong ban for exactly the same behaviour.
The tragic events that took place at the French racetrack Saint-Cloud were vividly documented by Sky Sports Racing cameras.
The famed Belgian jockey Soumillon, who has been suspended for two months, could not have been more intentional.
Racing officials took the rider seriously, but it’s thought that his suspension won’t begin until after Sunday’s Arc, in which he will be riding the enormously fancy Vadeni.
Fortunately, Ryan, who up until recently served as Kia Joorabchian’s retained rider, appeared unharmed.
Ryan was observed making his way to the on-site ambulance for medical attention.
Ryan’s impact was compared by a Sky Sports Racing analyst to jumping out of a vehicle sunroof at 35 mph. When a jockey falls like this, it is typical for them to break their back, neck, or in the case of Ryan, their leg.
Stewards immediately disqualified Soumillon’s horse from the race – and he told Sky Sports Racing he felt ‘terrible’ for what had happened.
Soumillon said: “I received a little bit of pressure from Rossa’s mount. I tried to keep a better positiom behind Ryan Moore.
“I put my elbow against him just to make him understand I wasn’t going to the inside.
“Straight away I knew I made a mistake.
“I’m terribly sad with what whappened as I hate seeing stuff like this. When you are the one doing it you feel even more terrible.
“I want to apologise to everyone. I just saw Rossa and he is fine and the horse is too.
“It was not a nice act on my side and I am terribly sorry and want to apologise.
“My season is now gone. I accept the sentence for what I did, it was a terrible deicison.
“I shouldn’t have done that and I didn’t do it on purpose to make him fall off the horse.
“I probably did it with a bit of power but it was a misjudgement from my side. I feel really bad.”
Simply put, the spectators in the 12.20 mile race were in a state of astonishment.
