December 11th, 2013 - Triumph and tragedy are sometimes never far apart in the racing game as demonstrated by the devastating events in the recent Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin, in which star British sprint filly, Jwala, took her chance at the end of a long season back in Europe.

Trained by Robert Cowell, the four-year-old daughter of Oasis Dream stepped up on all previous form when springing a mighty 40/1 shock on racing betting fans in the Group 1 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August.

The victory that was especially sweet for her veteran rider, Steve Drowne, who had spent most of the previous year on the sidelines after sustaining a fall and subsequently being refused permission to renew his licence due to a medical technicality.

Jwala went on to prove to racing live betting pundits that her York effort was no fluke when finishing a close fourth of the 20 runners at Longchamp in Paris on Arc day in October behind Irish mud lover, Maarek, in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye. She was given the green light to be prepared for a crack at the Hong Kong Sprint.

In the race itself, at Sha Tin over six furlongs – a trip probably in excess of her best – Jwala had to work hard from a wide drawer to reach her favoured prominent early  position and was weakening inside the final furlong as the race due to a climax.

As the impressive Lord Kanaloa strode away to an impressive victory, back in the field, Jwala clipped heels as she weakened, taking a sickening fall in which she suffered a fatal injury. Poor Steve Drowne sustained a punctured lung and a broken collarbone. The race was to have been Jwala’s last before retiring to stud to be a broodmare.