Horse Racing: Newbury removes electric cable

Fenix Two and Marching Song were about to be mounted by their jockeys on the grass on the far side of the parade ring prior to the first race when they fell to the ground and died, while Kid Cassidy and The Merry Giant were also affected.

Speculation from the connections of the stricken horses was that they may have suffered from some form of electric shock.

Stuart Hogarth, operations director for Southern Electric Power Distribution, said: "Following the unprecedented event, a full investigation is under way.

"A section of electricity cable has been removed from the paddock area for further detailed inspection.

"Our initial on-site investigations confirm there was no danger to the public."

Stephen Higgins, joint managing director of Newbury racecourse, said: "We have been reassured that the site is safe and we hope that the final results of this investigation will be established as soon as possible.

"Once again, we extend all our condolences to the connections of those horses affected."

The Bet totepool On 0800 221 221 Novices' Hurdle went ahead, with Kid Cassidy being withdrawn at the start.

The Merry Giant did line up but tailed off, finished last and was reported to be "badly traumatised" in the immediate aftermath of the contest.

The remainder of the meeting was abandoned on health and safety grounds and talks are on-going about whether the card can be rescheduled.

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.

"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.

"I think we should stress that racecourses have a very strong track record of dealing with all of these issues at the track in the interest of welfare - the horse, the jockey, trainers, owners and the customer. Racecourses are doing all they can and at the moment I think we should look at this as a bizarre moment that people who have been around racing for decades and decades have never seen the like. "

Kid Cassidy's trainer Nicky Henderson believes his charge is "extremely lucky" to have escaped death in the incident after he briefly collapsed before climbing back to his feet.

"It was something that none of us have ever seen before and we hope never to see again," Henderson said."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. I think our horse was extremely lucky as he definitely got the effect of it."

Marching Song's trainer Andy Turnell said: "My head travelling lad, Colin, held the horse's head and said he felt some form of electricity through his head," said Turnell. "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.

"We're a very small yard and he was one of our best horses, so it's very disappointing."