Publications
Partners
London - The freak deaths of two racehorses as they walked around the paddock before the first race at Newbury on Saturday was likely caused by a faulty underground electricity cable.
In a scene reminiscent of a Dick Francis novel Fenix Two and Marching Song were about to be mounted by their jockeys on the grass on the far side of the parade ring when they fell to the ground and died.
Speculation from the connections of the stricken horses was that they may have suffered from some form of electric shock and while it has not yet been confirmed as the definite cause, an underground cable has been found.
Marching Song's trainer Andy Turnell related: "Everything seemed to be going normally and when I went to saddle Nick Scholfield on to him he just sidestepped and then seemed to freak out..
"There was a horse behind me doing the same and I thought he was just reacting playfully, but it soon became apparent that wasn't the case.
"He went down and to my mind I thought he'd suffered a heart attack. It was bizarre and I've never seen anything quite like it.
"When I realised the other horse had gone down behind him I obviously realised there was more to it than a heart attack. There was obviously something going on.
"My head travelling lad, Colin, held the horse's head and said he felt some form of electricity through his head.
"The horse suffered slightly but he was dead within 30 seconds. It was very quick.
"I understand that horses are much more susceptible to electric shocks than we are and they wear steel plates on their feet for racing."
Another horse, Kid Cassidy, recovered after briefly collapsing but was withdrawn at the start of the opening Novices' Hurdle
"It was something that none of us have ever seen before and we hope never to see again," Kid Cassidy's trainer, Nicky Henderson told BBC Radio Five Live.
"Kid Cassidy was just walking round and went over on to the grass and knuckled over for a second.
"It does appear it was to do with electricity and underground cables and obviously nobody knew it was there.
"It was one of the most traumatic five minutes I think one can ever go through.
"This game that we're in is all about horses and everybody loves horses.
"I think they suffered little. There was a brief moment when they staggered around and then they were on the ground and they died.
"I think our horse was extremely lucky as he definitely got the effect of it.
"One realised shortly afterwards what had happened to him and he was probably lucky enough to get back on the rubber walkway and he actually had a different type of shoes on to the other horses. It was horrific."
British racing's governing body the BHA is investigating the harrowing incident.
BHA chief executive Nic Coward said: "This was a tragic incident and our thoughts have to be with the connections.
"Once the incident had taken place racecourse officials got together with trainers, jockeys and owners and I think in difficult and freakish circumstances, they had some difficult decisions to make and made the right ones.
"Obviously Newbury are still in close contact with investigators they have there carrying out inspections, trying to work out what really happened.
"It is premature to describe in detail what happened because that would be speculation, but fingers are being pointed at some kind of electrical fault. Post-mortems are also being carried out."
