Horror at the races: the post mortem begins

Old cable could the cause of electrical fault that killed two horses

AN old electricity cable has been pinpointed as the possible cause of the incident that saw two racehorses killed and the abandonment of Newbury Racecourse's Totesport Trophy meeting.

Joint managing director of the racecourse Stephen Higgins confirmed that an electrical problem was at the top of the list of causes of the incident and the old cable could have been the culprit.

“That is a distinct possibility,” he said.

We've looked at drawings that are 40 years old and established that before the 1992 grandstand was constructed, there was a cable potentially in that location

“We did some routine maintenance earlier in the week and whether or not that has disturbed something on the ground that has caused this catastrophic incident to occur, we are not sure yet.

“It would be speculation to guess, but that looks like a distinct possibility.”

Mr Higgins said that the incident had involved several horses. Some wore aluminium plates, and the victims had steel shoes while stable staff walking the horses had been unaffected.

“We had four or five horses walking around one particular area of the parade ring, he said.

“Four of the horses seemed to have some kind of reaction. One of them went out to race and seemed to recover very quickly, the other one seemed to slip and then carry on and the other two suffered some king of seizure and went to ground and unfortunately both died.”

The incident happened in the parade ring prior to the race when the horses - Marching Song, trained by Andy Turnell and Fenix Two trained by Jonjo O'Neill - are said to have reared up before collapsing and dying.

Witnesses said Lambourn jockey Tony McCoy had led his horse, Kid Cassidy, from the traps, only for the horse to be ‘spooked' by something and that other horses appeared jittery for no apparent reason.

Trainer Nicky Henderson quickly withdrew his runner but the novice hurdle race went ahead more than 20 minutes late.

Mr Henderson told Newburytoday.co.uk at 5.40pm: “I am currently at the racecourse in meetings to try to find out exactly what happened. The meetings will continue for a couple of hours - anything more I say at this stage would be pure speculation.”

However, Mr Henderson had earlier told reporters how he feared that the horses' metal shoes may have played a part and that those saddling the animals were getting electric shocks.Grand National winner and champion jump jockey McCoy, crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2010, has left Newbury and is currently en route to Warwick.

The racecourse issued a statement which said: “Due to the fact that the cause of the incident has not been established, a joint decision by the Racecourse Executive and the BHA Stewards has been made to abandon racing following the first race.”

Mr Higgins said: “This is a very sad day and our thoughts are with all the connections of the two horses who died. Whilst the causes of this incident are still unknown, for safety reasons we unfortunately had to abandon as our only course of action.”

The statement added that racegoers who bought tickets for today's raceday are advised to contact the racecourse next week when they will be able to claim refunds under the abandonment policy.

Meanwhile, throngs of disappointed racegoers boosted the takings of town centre pubs.

Racing fan Daniel Young from Shepperton, Surrey, said: “There are all sorts of stories flying round - possible water leaks on live wires under the paddock and so on - but no one knows. There was simply an announcement that racing was cancelled and that refunds would be available.”

One horse owner, who declined to give his name, said: “I'm just grateful that ours was not involved. The love and money that goes into training up these beautiful animals is incredible.

"To see them just keel over like that is heartbreaking. There's got to be one hell of an inquiry after this.”

SOUTHERN ELECTRICITY board officials were conducting investigations at the Racecourse on Saturday evening while the two dead horses were being taken to Liverpool University for a post mortem.

Samples have been taken from both horses, and from others involved in the incident, and will be analysed. And tests are also being carried out on the water supply while CCTV footage is being examined.

There were unconfirmed reports of ‘scald marks' on the dead horses and Fenix Two's trainer, Jonjo O'Neill said “It's the biggest shock I've ever had.

“The horses were just walking around and then they went down when they put a foot on the grass. It appeared they were electrocuted.

“He just went over and that was it. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen.”