A YOUNG woman rider who won an annual "Man versus Horse" cross country race in mid-Wales has been stripped of the £1,000 prize.
Alix Davies, 18, is "furious" at losing the prize after her horse Scott crossed the finish line first in a gruelling annul marathon.
Alix was delighted to win the race where runners and riders compete against each other to race over a mountain at Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys.
But after being crowned the winner Alix was told she had been disqualified because her faithful steed Scott had picked up an injury.
The rules of the race state that the horse be fit when it finishes the race and vets ruled that Scott was lame.
Heartbroken Alix - who runs her own business breaking in and training horses - claims Scott would not have been able to win the race if he was lame.
She said: "I won the event. How could my horse have won if he was injured?
"I crossed the finish line, was handed my rosette and Scott and I had our pictures taken.
"Then all of a sudden the vets said Scott was lame, that he had a limp or a race injury and they disqualified me."
But she said she believed he was not lame and he was fine.
Alix's furious dad Paul, of Newbridge-on-Wye, Mid Wales, branded the decision "disgraceful".
He also questioned why injuries caused disqualification when it did not matter in races such as the Grand National.
Paul said: "Scott was deemed lame by the veterinary staff.
"It has left a sour taste.
"I find it strange that a horse can be disqualified for appearing to be lame as this doesn't happen in any other competition, for example the Grand National or the Derby.
"It wouldn't happen to a runner who has just won the Olympic marathon but might have pulled a muscle."
The Man versus Horse Marathon began in June 1980 after pub landlord Gordon Green overheard two drinkers in his Neuadd Arms Hotel discussing the relative merits of men and horses running over mountainous terrain.
But it took 25 years before a runner beat a horse across the course in Llanwrtyd Wells.
Huw Lobb won in 2hrs and 5mins, beating the fastest horse by 2 minutes, and collected £25,000 in prize money.
The event - over a 24 mile course - is now run by a local group called Green Events.
Lindsay Ketteringham, chairman of Green Events and current landlord of the Neuadd Arms in Llanwrtyd Wells, said three different vets had decided that Alix's horse was lame.
Mr Ketteringham said: "On the day it was a case of the veterinarians' checks after the race declaring that the winning horse was not fit.
"Three different vets came to that decision and as event organisers we have to abide by their decision.
"I understand that the rider and her family are upset but we can only go with what their decision is. There's not much point in us having them there if we don't."
He added: "It is unlikely that the decision will be overturned at our upcoming debrief but it will obviously be discussed."
