Tye Angland was left with a broken saddle, Jason Collett carrying an ice bag and trainer John O'Shea fuming after the withdrawal of the favourite.
But amid the carnage at the barriers, which resulted in three late scratchings, Aegean Sea stood as quiet as a lamb.
It went a long way to explaining why Clarry Conners' filly was almost the last horse standing as a slew of two-year-old preparations and betting markets were thrown into disarray at Randwick on Saturday.
The Bart and James Cummings-trained Aspen Star was fractious in the gates, coming back on top of Angland, whose saddle broke. The rider escaped serious injury.
Collett's mount, Not A Cherry, trained by Anthony Cummings, launched herself skyward in barrier one, placing her rider in a precarious position. He somehow escaped with a banged leg and was able to fulfil his other riding commitments.
But perhaps the most significant casualty of the chain reaction was $2.40 favourite Italy, one of only two horses going into the opener with race experience but withdrawn after abrasions were found on her legs.
Stewards sent Aspen Star and Not A Cherry back to the trials.
"At his trials he didn't have to stand in the barriers for four minutes," Aspen Star's co-trainer James Cummings told stewards. "He was in there for a little too long."
Added Edward Cummings, stable representative for his father Anthony regarding Not A Cherry: "It was a big surprise [she went off in the gates]. She's not naturally stressed out."
The pre-race parade was not without incident either after Billy Big Brown took fright and had nearby onlookers scurrying for safety.
Despite the complexity of the start, there was nothing difficult about the finish as Sam Clipperton bounced Conners' Aegean Sea ($4.60) to the front and had enough in hand to hold off a fast-finishing Denpurr ($2.60) by half a length.
Aegean Sea's win was another tick for first-season sire Beneteau, which stood at Arrowfield Stud for only two seasons before dying from a severe neurological condition. He cruelly has just two crops and 135 foals to represent him.
Aegean Sea's part-owner, Ron Hamer, had a share in the stallion and races the Danny O'Brien-trained Prompt Return, the winner of the Maribyrnong Plate at Flemington a fortnight ago and which ran second in the Magic Millions Clockwise Classic on Saturday.
"Paul Messara said [Beneteau] was the best two-year-old he ever trained, an early type but we never saw the best of him," Hamer said. "Now the progeny is coming along great.
"A friend of mine came up with the name Aegean Sea and I came up with the name Prompt Return because I needed some prompt money. You can only hope for the best, but Clarry has got a lot of faith in her, so we'll see what happens."
She is certainly in the right hands for any juvenile success and four-time Golden Slipper winner Conners sings the filly's praises.
"She's my best two-year-old at this stage," he said. "This is my first Beneteau and I wish I did have [more]. She's always shown a bit from day one ... she's just a natural.
"If we can win another race now it will be nice. The trouble with her is she does too well, [but] that's a good problem to have."
On the drama at the barriers, Clipperton said: "She stood there like a lamb and she was very professional. There was a lot of commotion around her."
Meanwhile, Gai Waterhouse was toasting Carriages' win in the Magic Millions Clockwise Classic after sinking odds-on favourite Prompt Return. Waterhouse "nagged" owner David Henderson into sending Carriages down from Sydney for the one-off race at Ballarat, restricted to graduates of Magic Millions sales.
It took until last Saturday before Henderson relented and agreed to send the filly to Victoria for the $200,000 race.
The victory now cements the daughter of Hinchinbrook a start in the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast on January 10.
