During the sixth race at Belmont on Wednesday, a horse named Downtown Hottie threw her jockey to the ground shortly after the race began, yet still went on to cross the finish line first.
According to a report from News Max, generally when a horse loses its rider or throws him off, it tends to stray off course, but in this instance Downtown Hottie kept her pace as she followed just behind the front runners in the middle of the pack. She made moves midway through the race, pulling ahead of the rest of the horses by a good length.
Downtown Hottie ended up unofficially winning the race, crossing the finish line almost a full length (approximately eight feet) in front of the runner-up, a horse named Whole Lotta Shakin'.
However, Downtown Hottie's first place "win" was short-lived. The Examiner reports that due to the rules stating that a horse needs to have a jockey onboard when it crosses the finish line, Downtown Hottie was disqualified and Whole Lotta Shakin' took first officially, with a time of 1:35.58. In second place was Lady's Lunar Luck and third place went to Love Stanza Chance.
Downtown Hottie's 115-pound jockey Luis Saez was not injured in his fall, according to reports.
In reporting on this incident, Britain's Daily Mail offered up a playful nod to feminist equine theory, noting "the mare certainly trumped the other horses as far as any of the spectators were concerned, and proved that a strong, independent filly was better off unburdened by the constant whipping of a little man upon her back...she serves as an inspiration to us all."
Coincidentally, Downtown Hottie was not the only horse on Wednesday to cross the finish line first, sans jockey.
The Inquisitr reports that in West Virginia at the Charles Town racecourse, a horse called Counter Move tossed its jockey off, raced to the head of the pack and, again, unofficially won the race. But alas, the same rules that robbed Downtown Hottie of her crowning glory also dictated that Counter Move be disqualified.