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Well I say three cars, that is what Simon Holt said (lets face it he has a good view). I saw one car driving down a road when they cut to it.
I would put it out in the field for a year, then re-break it next winter.
And then shoot it?
Town Moor’s infield is sizeable than most – if at all practicable, and if he actually ended up in there (I’m not sure) I’d have left him in for a while until he tired and proved more amenable to capture.
Jeremy,
The horse jumped the rails and fence on the outside (stands side) of the straight track at just beyond the 5f start and while I can’t be certain I suspect there was nothing to prevent it from running loose onto the busy main road (Leger Way) or into the grounds of Danum School. Which might explain the panic necessitating a three-car chase. As it ‘appened the horse was caught quite quickly.
I was disappointed in John Francome’s on-air comment in response to Jim McGrath’s evident concern: "You can get another horse any day of the week, I’m more concerened about Olivier Peslier".
Agree. Whether you believe it or not, it was unnecessary
Afraid I agree with JF, only one thing for horses like that.
As a racing follower, you should really be ashamed of yourself for comments like that.
No, as someone who knows truly how dangerous animals like that can be, and the consequences, I would happily pull the trigger myself.
Again with "Ashamed", and "Yourself". You clearly have no understanding of horses whatsoever if you can sentence a 2 YO just like that. Even if the horse doesn’t race again, he could do well in other fields once matured.
The horse jumped the rails and fence on the outside (stands side) of the straight track at just beyond the 5f start and while I can’t be certain I suspect there was nothing to prevent it from running loose onto the busy main road (Leger Way) or into the grounds of Danum School. Which might explain the panic necessitating a three-car chase. As it ‘appened the horse was caught quite quickly.
Ah right, gotcha. Aye, I suppose that’s one part of the course they don’t usually reckon horses are going to escape from and don’t marshall accordingly.
Steveh31 lives locally, mind – he could have intercepted the horse as it passed his abode and ridden it to victory in Peslier’s stead. A landmark event in TRF’s brief but glorious history that would have been, what!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Do you remember the time one got loose (I think it was at Southwell) and ran into a crowd, smashing into a baby’s pram (with the baby inside). Absolutely amazing that nobody was injured that day.
Mike
No I don’t remember that I wasn’t around the UK then
but we did have a trotter in Australia only a couple of years ago that bolted in the home straight after he and another horse collided at Lords Raceway in Bendigo.
The camera (low key meeting) was on the field and the horse tipped out the driver and kept going with buggy intact. He headed straight for the outside fence.
The camera was still on him (heading straight at the lens) and you could see about 5 spectators including a boy of about 10. It all happened so quick they didn’t move until the last minute and the boy not at all. The horse jumped the rail with the buggy and landed on top of the boy.
The boy suffered abdominal and chest injuries.
He actually survived but it was touch and go and the footage they showed (over and over and over again) on TV was horrendous.The horse didnt just bolt and jump the rails though. He bolted and fly leaped to the start and as soon as the jockey dropped his hands he dropped his shoulder and galloped straight for the rail. He still had another few furlongs to gallop in a straight line, Peslier probably thought to let him bowl was the only chance he had in pulling him up before the dead end.
RP – This wasnt just a hard puller, barbed wire in his gob and a tug of war team wouldnt have stopped him. When they decide to bolt nothing will stop them, it is a mentality which is hard to correct. Sometimes you can work around it, but the tricky part is knowing when to give up before you get yourself killed.
Remember this is not a 10ib claimer we are talking about here, this is a jockey who has ridden hundreds of tricky beasts to the start. I dont buy the wind theory, there was a light breeze, thats all. There must be something seriously wrong with the animal,. to be able to get away like that.
As I said before it may just be second time out syndrome, but personally I think the dropping the shoulder and veering off a straight line indicates that the horse had bad intentions.
I guess it all comes down to whether the horse is a proper bolter or not, and if he shows any indication of doing that again then the owners should take the responsible action.
We do have one horse like that here – Fabrian. If he cantered to the start with the others he would do that every time he ran. However his mentality was made, he was used as a pacesetter earlier in his career and an old pelvis injury makes him hang badly. As a 2yo, this horses mentality is certainly not made yet, it was born.
Also the fact to consider that it ‘only happens to the good ones’. The fact that he didnt have a mark on him doesnt bode well in that quarter!The horse jumped the rails and fence on the outside (stands side) of the straight track at just beyond the 5f start and while I can’t be certain I suspect there was nothing to prevent it from running loose onto the busy main road (Leger Way) or into the grounds of Danum School. Which might explain the panic necessitating a three-car chase. As it ‘appened the horse was caught quite quickly.
Ah right, gotcha. Aye, I suppose that’s one part of the course they don’t usually reckon horses are going to escape from and don’t marshall accordingly.
Steveh31 lives locally, mind – he could have intercepted the horse as it passed his abode and ridden it to victory in Peslier’s stead. A landmark event in TRF’s brief but glorious history that would have been, what!
gc
If the thing had gone any faster and carried on it might have gone straight through my window im only a mile away, it was lucky there wasnt any one standing where it jumped.
I guess it all comes down to whether the horse is a proper bolter or not, and if he shows any indication of doing that again then the owners should take the responsible action.
If this isn’t a one off and the horse continues to prove intractable -at home or on the racecourse – wouldn’t gelding be the sensible first option?
Or does this tend not to work with ‘bolters’ ?
Your opinions regarding the gelding of 2yos in general would be welcome Cheekster.
I don’t know whether or not age or sex has anything to do with it.
I had a 9YO Anglo Arab mare that bolted once when her mate got out of sight. Lucky I had a rather large hill in front of me and was able to burn her out (missing all the potholes
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She was totally mentally gone when she started and she’d never done it before and never did it again.
It was a frightening experience though considering she was a good 16HH well built solid arab and I was at the time a scrawny 45kgsA thoroughbred did it to me on the track one morning but luckily we just kept going around in circles until he stopped
All I could hear was TJ Smith yelling from the tower ‘pull that bloody horse up’ ………..like I wasn’t tryingI guess it all comes down to whether the horse is a proper bolter or not, and if he shows any indication of doing that again then the owners should take the responsible action.
If this isn’t a one off and the horse continues to prove intractable -at home or on the racecourse – wouldn’t gelding be the sensible first option?
Or does this tend not to work with ‘bolters’ ?
Your opinions regarding the gelding of 2yos in general would be welcome Cheekster.
I wouldn’t have thought the sex of a horse that does this has any bearing on its attitude tbh. Nappers and rearers its the first thing you’d do. Unless of course the horse is a rig, then it would need sorting as it is an obvious pain issue.
In general, get em off! Hate colts being kept entire to let them get too heavy topped and fat inside, for no reason.Thankfully the horse managed to clear that second fence and Peslier managed to bail out but I did notice two women walking down with prams and kids near by, very fortunate.
Didn’t understand ATR apologising profusely for showing the pictures of the horse jumping the fence, a racing channel should imo.
Thought Francomes comments were unneccesary, if in doubt say nowt.
Worse came from Alastair Down after when he said Peslier would now be a candidate for the French rugby team and after the paramedics had finished with him they would be required in the betting ring for the bookies. This remember immediately after the incident and after he’d just done an item on the IJF.
We also had "the horse would make a good jumper" from Cattermole.Afraid I agree with JF, only one thing for horses like that.
As a racing follower, you should really be ashamed of yourself for comments like that.
No, as someone who knows truly how dangerous animals like that can be, and the consequences, I would happily pull the trigger myself.
You know it’s funny how clearly the “racing followers” and experienced horsepeople stand out by what they say on a thread like this.
Racing followers are just that – they watch racing, they might have ridden a few ponies in their time, so they consider themselves experts.
Then you get someone like The Cheekster who from everything she has posted has clearly demonstrated that she is a professional with a wide experience of handling racehorses (yes, that’s racehorses, not ponies, or riding horses, or any other form of dobbin that ambles around the countryside) with a variety of traits & personalities.
You see it is the true horseman that recognises that not all horses are sweet loving creatures and that for some (not many, thankfully) the kindest thing is to put them to sleep. With the best will in the world not every horse can be “sorted out” (viz-a-viz “yeah, I’ll get on it!” which just comes across as some sort of desperate bravado) by the best of riders – some are just plain dangerous and the longer you are involved with horses [racehorses in particular as not only are TBs highly strung they are fit & oated up to the eyeballs] and the more different types you are involved with the more you will come to realise this.
Interestingly I didn’t see The Cheekster say the horse had to be shot – I read the post as saying that if the horse were truly as dangerous as it appeared to show yesterday, then she would have him put down. Not that it was an open and shut case as too many seem to have attributed her as saying.
I think TC should be applauded for offering a professional opinion rather lambasted for it by those with far less experience than her.
Incidentally I’d like to chip in my own ideas about gelding – 1) I agree that in this case in particular the sex of the animal may have very little if anything to do with the matter and 2) each animal should be judged on its merits. I’m an advocate of gelding where possible but it does a colt no harm to be kept entire until two or three if he is of an amenable temperament and is a weak type – it can help them strengthen at that young age to be kept intact.[/i]
Another great post SL.
I respect TC’s views as she clearly knows what she is talking about, whereas I have never sat on a horse in my life. But I will throw my hat in the ring (and you knew I would at some point lol) and say that surely the horse deserves another chance.
Whether the horse is a ‘dangerous animal’ or a tempremental 2 year old can’t really be judged on one incident surely – and although I wouldn’t advocate for the horse to be put straight back on the racetrack without proving itself at home, maybe the horse does deserve another chance at least.
Mike
I don’t believe anyone is adverse to giving it another chance Mikky Mo, I agree you cannot judge a horse on one run alone. Of course none of us know how it behaves at home – if the kind of behaviour it displayed yesterday is commonplace at home then a line has to be drawn somewhere before one or many people and/or horses are seriously hurt.
but we did have a trotter in Australia only a couple of years ago that bolted in the home straight after he and another horse collided at Lords Raceway in Bendigo. 
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