British Racing rocked by electric Tragedies at Newbury

Last Saturday racing had to be abandoned after bizarre and fatal incidents before the first race at Newbury Racecourse. As the runners were parading in the paddock for the first race two horses keeled over and died.  Fenix Two and Marching Song were about to be mounted by their jockeys on the grass on the far side of the paddock before the first race when they fell to the ground and died. Speculation has been since the horrific incident that the horses may have suffered from some sort of electric shock.

Andy Turnell, trainer of Marching Song said: “"I just feel very sorry for everybody concerned, the owners and the racecourse. Nobody wants this sort of thing happening. The only good thing is how many of the horses survived." Jonjo O’Neill. Trainer of JP McManus’s Fenix Two, said: “It was like he was stuck to the ground. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life”.

Two other horses, Kid Cassidy and The Merry Giant, were also affected, but have since recovered. The first race took place but the rest of the meeting was abandoned on health and safety grounds.

All parties at Newbury were absolutely devastated by the events. Top trainer Nicky Henderson, who had  the affected Kid Cassidy in the race, said: “It’s the most horrific thing I’ve seen in 33 years of racing.”  Television racing pundit John McCririck summed up the mood: “Everyone is horrified”.

Newbury Racecourse and the Southern Electric Board have both undertaken thorough investigations, and a section of electricity cable was removed from the paddock area by the Southern Electric Board which was suspected to be to blame.

The track has been given the all clear to host the rest of the card tomorrow (Friday). Everyone will be hoping it will goes smoothly. "Restaging the fixture is an expensive but necessary exercise," Stephen Higgins, Newbury's managing director, said: "and we are very grateful to the BHA and the title sponsors – as well as the Horsemen and the Levy Board with whom we have worked closely, and our racegoers who have been enormously supportive.”