Apprentice makes a great escape

An apprentice jockey escaped injury in a horrific-looking fall from his mount at Brighton yesterday. Dancing Lawyer plunged through the rails just before the two-furlong marker in the Festival Handicap but both horse and rider, 19-year-old Gabriel Hannon were unscathed, though Dancing Lawyer stayed on the ground for four minutes.

Hannon, who is from Galway, is apprenticed to trainer Brian Meehan. The jockey said: "It was nobody's fault, but my horse and I are very lucky to be uninjured."

The Brighton stewards found that College Night had interfered with Office Hours who in turn interfered with Lancashire Legend, which resulted in Dancing Lawyer's fall, but they considered the interference was accidental.

The race was won by Perilous Plight, a 16-1 outsider, ridden by Jean- Pierre Lopez for trainer Willie Muir, who beat Rocky Waters and College Night by a neck and a short-head.

Another apprentice, Dane O'Neill, continued in great form at the same track yesterday by landing a 19-1 double with No Sympathy and Prince Danzig, taking the rider to a seasonal total of 15.

David Murray Smith, Prince Danzig's trainer, said: "That was this horse's 48th run and he's been in the first four in over 50 per cent of his races."