Racing at Naas on Sunday had plenty of thrills and spills, few more dramatic than Kevin Brouder on Forza Milan.
Approaching the final fence in the feature race of the day when Forza Milan was staying on for a fourth-place finish.
James Nash's stayer has plenty of jumping experience for a novice but he met the final fence all wrong.
What a recovery by @KevinBrouder, defying the odds to hold onto Forza Milan in jaw-dropping style. pic.twitter.com/JfeUdHXhUv
— Naas Racecourse (@NaasRacecourse) January 31, 2021
Brouder asked his mount to jump out of the heavy going but Forza Milan put in an extra short stride on approach, the miscommunication between horse and rider led to a spectacular catapulting of the rider into the winter sky.
The incident would normally end up with the jockey on the turf, but somehow Kevin Brouder managed to land back on the horse having lost both reins and both stirrups.
He then got back in the saddle, literally, and rode the horse home for fourth place in the grade three contest. A truly spectacular recovery.
Brouder and Forza Milan were not the only pairing with a dramatic finish to the race, Philip Enright rode home with broken reins.
Philip Enright and Foxy Jack only have the one rein! pic.twitter.com/SWo72G8tXI
— Barbara McGoldrick (@babsmac1) January 31, 2021
The race was actually won in a straightforward manner by Eklat de Rire under Rachael Blackmore for Henry de Bromhead, who may come into contention for one of the longer novice chases at the Cheltenham Festival.
The Novice chase was not the only dram on the Naas card that had already survived two course inspections to go ahead.
In an earlier race, Melly And Me dropped Sean Flanagan at the start and ran loose for about ten minutes delaying the start of the fifth race of the day.
When the race eventually started two more horses were interfered with at the start and took no part.
Among all of the drama, there were two winners for Champion Jockey Paul Townend. He won the opening race on Coltor then in the feature hurdle race Bachasson relished the heavy underfoot conditions to win by a wide margin.
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