NO QUICK FIX TO STOP MORE HORSE MIX-UPS

THE BHA will seek moves to prevent a repetition of the embarrassing events at Yarmouth on Thursday when 50-1 winner Mandarin Princess turned out to be her stablemate. But racing’s ruling authority yesterday ruled out introducing interim checking measures. Mandarin Princess and Charlie McBride-trained stablemate Millie’s Kiss both had their identifying microchips checked on arrival at the track but the mix-up occurred when a groom took the wrong horse to be saddled. BHA chief executive Nick Rust apologised to the betting public and bookmakers but also said the error was the first of its type in the 18 years racehorses have carried the microchips. Rust claimed additional manual checking of horses would cost £400,000 a year, while a high-tech solution would run into seven figures. He added: ‘Potential solutions to reduce the small risk of this happening even further could come at a significant cost to the industry, so we must determine an acceptable balance of risk and costs.’