By Caroline Cheese BBC Sport Online

Patrick Mathers is not a name most racing fans will be familiar with, but the rookie jockey will not be forgotten by those punters who had a bet on his mount Columbine.

The 10-1 shot was set to earn his backers a tidy profit as he led the 1710 at Musselburgh with just a few strides to go, but Mathers chose that moment to drop his howler.

Spotting a path running across the track, 20-year-old Mathers pulled up thinking glory was his, only to see rival King of Peru race past him and take the actual finish line 50 yards further on.

And to compound the embarrassed jockey's misery, Mathers was later banned for the maximum 21 days.

But if Mathers woke up feeling a little sheepish this morning, perhaps he will be encouraged that he isn't the first sportsman to learn the hard way that it's never over til it's over.

Oscar turns grouch

In a sport where the size of your ego must always measure up to the size of your punch, Oscar de la Hoya suffered the ultimate humiliation in his 1999 WBC clash with Felix Trinidad.

De La Hoya celebrates another "win"

Having taken what he thought was an unassailable points lead in the first eight rounds, De La Hoya elected to save some energy for the victory celebrations by not fighting in the final four rounds and passed the time by "running" from his opponent.

Such confidence proved entirely misplaced as Trinidad clinched the final three rounds giving him a narrow points victory over the holder.

But the "Golden Boy" showed admirable front despite the bare facts facing him.

"I'm not disappointed," he said. "If I felt like a defeated fighter, I'd feel bad."

No-score draw

One day cricket was always meant to be more palatable for a wider audience than the five-day version - all-out attack is the name of the game and definitely no playing for a draw.

Shame no one told the Indian side who turned up for the inaugural World Cup in 1975 with high hopes.

In their first match against hosts England, they were left chasing a massive target of 334.

Deciding it was impossible to beat that total, India played it safe and settled for a draw, reaching 132 for the loss of only three wickets.

Sunil Gavasgar was India's "hero", batting the entire innings for a total of 37 runs but no points.

Blue day

Manchester City's fans had good reason to hope that they might cling onto their place in the Premiership in 1996, but they had reckoned without manager Alan Ball's almost magnetic attraction to disaster.

City's fate was to be decided on the final day of the season and their mission was to achieve a better result at home against Liverpool than Coventry City and Southampton, who were playing each other.

No point hiding under the cap, Alan, the face says it all

Having fought back from 2-0 down to 2-2 and with just a few minutes left, Ball heard word that one of the other relegation contenders was losing and told his players to hold on for the draw.

But Ball's informant was mistaken and with Saints and the Sky Blues drawing, Man City were condemned to Division One football on goal difference.

The much-maligned Ball quit the club under growing pressure three games into the next season and has vowed never to return to management.

Webber's clock-up

But if the hapless Mathis is still struggling to get over his catastrophic error, he could always take inspiration from basketball's Chris Webber's heart-warming tale.

In his college days, Webber's Michigan team were looking to make up for defeat in the 1992 NCAA final in the following year's showpiece game.

With seconds left, Michigan needed to score to win so Webber called a timeout to help his team plan the winning shot.

Unfortunately, Michigan had already used their allotted timeouts and Webber was handed a technical foul for his mistake.

North Carolina scored two of the ensuing free throws and clinched the title, leaving Webber to curse his mathematical clanger.

Webber, though, has since set up a charitable foundation for children appropriately entitled 'Timeout'.