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Two horses die in paddock incident

LONDON - Racing at Newbury was abandoned on Saturday after two horses collapsed and died in the parade ring in front of astonished onlookers.

The horses, Fenix Two and Marching Song, were being paraded before the first race when they fell to the ground for reasons yet to be explained.

The racecourse later announced that the remainder of the day’s racing had been abandoned as a precaution.

“This is a very sad day and our thoughts are with all the connections of the two horses who died,” racecourse joint-managing director Stephen Higgins said in a statement.

“Whilst the causes of this incident are still unknown, for safety reasons we unfortunately had to abandon as our only course of action.”

Former champion jumps jockey John Francome told Channel 4 Racing: “Three lads involved looking after the first horse that came down said they got a pulsing feeling coming through the horse. It seems it was something electrical.”

Andy Turnell, trainer of one of the horses, Marching Song, told sportinglife.com: “It looks like they’ve been electrocuted. My fellow seemed perfectly all right and I was about to leg him up but he just went straight down.”

Fellow trainer Jonjo O’Neill said: “It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

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