Punters were left mystified and out of pocket at Yarmouth on Thursday after it emerged that Fyre Cay, the well-backed odds-on favourite for the opening two‑year-old contest, was beaten a neck by the 50-1 shot Mandarin Princess. It later emerged the wrong horse had run and won, namely her year older stablemate Millie’s Kiss.

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The trainer Charlie McBride was responsible for both horses but the mistaken identity was discovered only when the ‘winner’ was taken for a routine sample and the scan by the veterinary officer discovered it was not Mandarin Princess but Millie’s Kiss, a three-year-old who was due to run later on the card in the fourth race, but was subsequently withdrawn.

Unfortunately for those racegoers at Yarmouth the result stands as regards to settling bets. However, most high street bookmakers have done the decent thing, including Coral who are paying out on the second as the winner, a decision they say will cost them over £50,000.

Ladbrokes and Sky Bet followed suit by paying out on the first two past the post –Mandarin Princess and Fyre Cay – as have BoyleSports and Paddy Power, who have both voided all other bets in the race.

A report issued by the British Horseracing Authority said: “The stewards held an inquiry to consider the circumstances surrounding the identification of the winner, Mandarin Princess, trained by Philip (Charlie) McBride, which was presented at the sampling unit for routine testing. The scan identified the horse to be Millie’s Kiss, the trainer’s other runner in race four.

“They interviewed the trainer, the stable groom, the veterinary officer and the equine welfare integrity officer responsible for the sampling unit. Having heard their evidence, they referred the matter to the head office of the British Horseracing Authority and ordered Millie’s Kiss to be withdrawn from race four.”

The stipendiary steward Tony McGlone told At The Races: “As all horses are, they are brought into the stables and they are scanned and are allocated into their boxes. These two horses, trained by Charlie McBride, were given a box each.

“Mr McBride went over to the weighing room to collect the saddle and was slightly delayed collecting it. He rushed over. The stable girl had taken the horse out of the stables and put it in the saddling boxes. Mr McBride put the saddle on, the horse ran, it won.

“We then sent the horse for routine testing as per normal. The integrity officer scanned the horse and found it to be the wrong horse. We have referred it to the British Horseracing Authority for further consideration. I think the BHA have got 14 days to lodge an objection to the winner. We’ll obviously send a report from here and they will look into the matter.”

In a statement the BHA said: “The incident at Great Yarmouth has been referred to the BHA’s head office in order that we can carry out an investigation, in accordance with our rules. Since we introduced the micro-chipping identification system an incident such as this is, as far as we are aware, unprecedented.

“The issue had not been established until after the result had been made official. After the weighed in [announcement]has been declared on the racecourse, the result cannot be amended by the stewards. The responsibility lies with the trainer to present and run the correct horse in the race. Having said that, and while we have not seen an incident of this nature in recent times, we will of course determine what steps need to be put in place to prevent it from happening again. We sympathise with the betting operators and betting public who have potentially been affected by this incident.”

These are rare events but at Southwell in 1996 there was a case of mistaken identity when Loch Style, trained by Reg Hollinshead, ran in the name of Taniyar in the Waterford Median Auction Stakes.

Friday’s tips by John O’Hara

Ascot

1.40 Lady Momoka 2.10 Mythical Magic 2.45 UAE King 3.20 Mittens 3.55 Appeared (nb) 4.25 Yalta 4.55 Intense Romance

Chepstow

5.50 Kareva 6.20 Characterized 6.50 Peach Melba 7.20 Diamochi 7.50 Seamster 8.20 Petrify 8.50 St Andrews

Newmarket

5.35 Midnight Whistler 6.10 Musaahim 6.40 Desert Mountain 7.10 Noble Manners 7.40 Street Marie 8.10 Pouvoir Magique 8.40 Yellowhammer

Thirsk

1.20 Rumshak 1.50 Akvavera 2.20 Juliet Capulet 2.55 Reinbeau Prince 3.30 Springforth 4.05 Oriental Lilly 4.35 Groupie 5.05 Mr Strutter

Uttoxeter

2.00 Nampararoo 2.30 Knight Commander 3.05 Deadly Move 3.40 Green Zone 4.15 Miss Spent 4.45 The Yank 5.15 Drumlynn

York

6.00 Breanski 6.30 Bogart 7.00 Laugh A Minute 7.30 Rosental (nap) 8.00 Calder Prince 8.30 Dakota Gold