British stewards reverse race's photo finish five days later

The seemingly impossible happened last Friday at England's Kempton Park, which American race fans may know as the facility that hosted a recent Kentucky Derby prep.

Race stewards said -- five days after the fact -- they got photo finish wrong in the Racing UK Profits Returned To Racing Handicap. As per usual in racing, the horse players aren't going to be refunded after the British Horseracing Authority reversed the results days later.

In the provided photo, the No. 8, Bird For Life, appears to get his nose to the wire first, and that's how the race was initially called. But stewards announced Wednesday a reversal that made No. 1, Oregon Gift on the far side, the race winner.

Said Brant Dunshea, Director of Integrity and Raceday Operations for the BHA: “Clearly the whole team is disappointed to have to correct any race result after the day. It is important that these results are called accurately.

“While it is appropriate that our processes allow us to put this right financially by the owner of the winning horse, we are aware that the betting public are significantly affected by issues such as this owing to the fact that the rules of betting mean that the result called on the day stands for betting purposes. We apologise to everyone affected.

“Tight photo finish calls can often be misleading at first glance and present a challenge on race days when there is a time pressure. Our Judges do a fantastic job, using all of their experience to call the results of these difficult photos accurately and in a timely manner, an overwhelming majority of the time.

“However, in order to ensure that our Judges are getting all of the support they need, I am determined that we take positive steps, both in the short term and through the stewarding review, to ensure that there are extra checks and balances as part of this process before the ‘weighed in’ announcement is made and bets are settled.”

Longer term, the BHA has committed to improving accountability on photo finish decisions. Among the changes: "further support for Judges by ensuring that all photo finish decisions are available for review by a BHA official before the ‘weighed in’ is announced, ensuring that there is a second check before betting is settled."