$126million refunded after barrier dramas at race meeting in Hong Kong

This is the HK$126million bungle that will be giving Melbourne Cup organisers nightmares.

A 1000m race at Happy Valley was declared ''void'' after the barriers didn’t all open at the same time on Wednesday night.

The time gaps weren’t huge, but it was enough to ensure all horses weren’t given an equal chance to compete.

The fact it was a sprint made it an even easier decision.

This forced the refunds of all pari-mutuel (tote) bets placed on the race as well as well as all wagering on the day’s jockey’s challenge.

Four of the gates opened as they should, with the rest opening in two stages. Barriers one and nine were the last to release.

The South China Morning Post reported that a rake that had become caught up in the barriers caused the problems.

An event like this is highly unlikely to be repeated over the remainder of the spring carnival in Melbourne, but imagine the drama if this happened at the start of the Melbourne Cup.

More than $70million was bet across the three major tote pools on last year’s Melbourne Cup.