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Desperate day continues with (unconfirmed) news that there is a problem with Glencove Marina.
Confirmed on ATR hemorrhaged after crossing line and died instantly. Owner wants to try to save Money Trix but vets not hopeful. Just a dreadful dreadful day
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Joncol – you have absolutely NO evidence to support your comment about money being at the forefront of Newbury officials minds.
The rights and wrongs of the running of the first race will come out in time when the course issues explanations around why that decision was made (presumably stewards were involved). Until that point making assertions like the one made in your post above are just ridiculous.
You have NO IDEA why the decision was made and what the thinking behind it was.
Ok very very very simple question, why (With so much uncertainty surounding what happened) did the first race go ahead? Very simply why where these horses risked?
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I’m going to stop posting now as I know I sound like a broken record but let’s look at the facts.
Two horses died in a freak event in the parade ring.
Half an hour later the horse who where in that parade ring where forced to run despite noboby knowing what caused those two poor horses to die.
Some of the horses return from the first with burn marks.
Racing is then cancelled.
I don’t know why the first race went ahead and connections risks their horses in a race with so much uncertainty, but whatever the reason shame shame shame on them and shame on Newbury for even thinking about running the first race.
All we hear now is how sad the officials and all connected are, well then why on earth did you make horses run in the first race.
I might be completely wrong about money being the reason they went ahead with it’s, that purely an opinion which may be wrong, but one thing is for sure that horses welfare was not at the forefront when it came to running the first race.
Let’s hope there’s a full investigation/explanation and those responsible are held to account and this isn’t swept under the carpet like so much more in racing.
I might be completely wrong about money being the reason they went ahead with it’s, that purely an opinion which may be wrong,
I’m glad you recognise that.
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I might be completely wrong about money being the reason they went ahead with it’s, that purely an opinion which may be wrong,
I’m glad you recognise that.
I do, but I feel very strongly about how poorly officials have acted today especially after reading Paul Bartons(steward)statement :
"After those horses collapsed in the parade ring we took the decision that it was safe to continue with the rest of the meeting."
So they make a decision that it’s safe to continue despite not knowing what it was, and still not knowing what it was that caused the horse to die.
Remarkable, only in racing would officials decide en event is safe to continue despite not knowing what caused it.
Disgraceful to all concerned with that decision.
If that’s how he opts to make decisions then he definitely shouldn’t have the power to make them.
God only know how Newbury will get public liability insurance when they manage health and safety like this.
A very strange, possibly unique event
Anyone know what the weather conditions were in like Newbury at the time?
Cloud cover? wind-speed? rain?
Given the reports are of burn marks to the areas around the metal parts of the headgear, rather than to the shoes this bears much resemblance to an atmospheric electrical strike – lightning which can take many forms other than the typical flash and rumble – rather than from a cable beneath them
An active weather front passed over the country last night; these can leave residual ‘disturbance’ in their wake even if the sky appears blue and the weather quiet
Joncol, here’s a question for you:
Why, when you said you weren’t going to post on this anymore & why many months ago you said you ‘don’t bet on horses’ do you continue to persist in doing both?
It doesn’t make a spit of difference whether they run the first race at Newbury or not. Two horses have died in tragic circumstances at Newbury, two at Leopardstown (?) & one at Warwick.
Following the incident in the parade ring, you’ve got the vets that were there who were probably focusing on the two fatalities & may have missed thoroughly checking the others. You got phone calls & walkie talkie transmissions going back & forth, a starter who was probably on his way to the start.
For the best organisation in the world, in any situation like this there’s still a delay fuelled by shock and confusion & amongst all that, the first race got underway. We could hammer the Newbury officials all day long, doesn’t turn the clock back or make an iota of difference. They called the rest of the meeting off, they’re refunding everyone’s entry money in full, there’s a possibility of the races being rescheduled.
They’ve got some serious questions to answer but have, for me, done their best to minimise any additional disruptions.
That’s an interesting thought Drone.
Joncol – I am pretty sure Newbury and the stewards (plus racecourse safety officer and BHA) will have many questions to answer about not only the events but about the decision making processes which followed.
Not attempting to justify anything but we have an awful lot more information now (even though it is far from complete) than anyone had at the time. Sadly, incidents involving horses in the paddock are reasonably frequent so it is understandable that the precise gravity of what had occured may have taken some time to sink in or unfold.
I might be completely wrong about money being the reason they went ahead with it’s, that purely an opinion which may be wrong,
I’m glad you recognise that.
I do, but I feel very strongly about how poorly officials have acted today especially after reading Paul Bartons(steward)statement :
"After those horses collapsed in the parade ring we took the decision that it was safe to continue with the rest of the meeting."
So they make a decision that it’s safe to continue despite not knowing what it was, and still not knowing what it was that caused the horse to die.
Remarkable, only in racing would officials decide en event is safe to continue despite not knowing what caused it.
Disgraceful to all concerned with that decision.
If that’s how he opts to make decisions then he definitely shouldn’t have the power to make them.
God only know how Newbury will get public liability insurance when they manage health and safety like this.
I think you’re bang on. The only reason racing continued is money. TV money, public money etc
There’s no way that racing should have gone ahead. Those in charge will have heard about the electrocution theory before the start of the first tace. Two vets were with the horses WHEN THEY DIED and they saw signs of electricution. From that moment on, racing should have been abandoned. Simply closing off the paddock was amateurish and potentially life threatening.
One contributing factor may have been the amount of meetings lost this year and courses, trainers and owners are so desperate to see racing go ahead.Scandalous whichever way you look at it
Hello,
I find this discussion absolutely unbelievable!!
I am not a young man, but the lack of standards throughout my insignificant life, it was inevitable it would effect as equally the pastime of the rich, horse racing.
Will everyone get a GRIP, we are no longer an empire, we do not rule the world, mistakes happen and for fucks sake tell your grandkids about Arkle…
regards,
doyley
Joncol, I understand your reaction. But this was an unprecedented tragedy. I have had, unfortunately, some expereince of these in my working life, and immediately afterwards no-one knows the right thing to do or the right way to respond. Sometimes people go on auto-pilot and try to maintain a veneer of normality, and this may have been why the race went ahead while the true horror was sinking in.
Allocating blame is an immediate emotional response. There are serious questions to be answered, and we should reserve judgement till then.- Total Posts 17716
I know but I’m just disgusted that some people feel it was ok for the first race to go ahead.
Anthony says "it doesn’t make a spit of difference whether they run the first race at Newbury or not." which in my mind is so irresponsible to say.
The fact is that officials didn’t know what was going on and running that first race put horse lives at risk, horses came back with burns and thank god that’s all but the decision of officials to run the first race and the decision from connections to run their horses could of made a bad situation a hell of a lot worse and whoever made that decision needs to explain why? The only reason I have come across is as mentioned that they felt it was safe, yet despite knowing what was going on.
Any responsible official should of cancelled raising straight away given the fact that no one really knew or knows now what caused it. You certainly don’t carry on hoping everything will be ok.
Incredibly irresponsibly handled today, some people need to be held accountable. Even issues such as public liability insurance will become an issue now for Newbury given how they handled event.s
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What an awful day for anyone who loves the sport.
Can’t believe the finger pointing most of which is totally uncalled for.
The horses that ran in the first race were obviously in no danger and would have to have come back whether they ran or not so it’s hardly an issue.
There are surely procedures before meeting can be cancelled and it’s not a decision one man can make.
I believe they cordoned of the area where the accidents took place, quickly arranged an executive meeting and took the only option open to them.
Philip Hobbs was all for letting the meeting take place but he’s not the one who would have been for the high jump had further incidents taken place.
No doubt the power feeding the offending cable was turned off and the chances of further incidents were nil to zero but in their position they had no choice but abandon.
Seems to me they handled it as well as they could as quickly as they could.
Dead easy to sit at home and say stop the meeting now! but without fully understanding what’s involved and I am not saying I do, all you are doing is blowing hot air.
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The officials didn’t know what caused the problem today.The officials still don’t know what caused it. Vets have admitted the PM might not show what caused it but yet you seem sure that "The horses that ran in the first race were obviously in no danger and would have to have come back whether they ran or not so it’s hardly an issue" That’s a remarkable attitude to take.
Regarding cancelling the meeting and the procedures you speak of, they are all regarding the cost of cancelling in my opinion and rarely anything else.
You mention Phillip Hobbs being all for the meeting to take place well might do you well to look at what Nicholls said: "I understand why they had to call it off today – they didn’t really have any alternative"
Joncol, I understand your reaction. But this was an unprecedented tragedy. I have had, unfortunately, some expereince of these in my working life, and immediately afterwards no-one knows the right thing to do or the right way to respond. Sometimes people go on auto-pilot and try to maintain a veneer of normality, and this may have been why the race went ahead while the true horror was sinking in.
Allocating blame is an immediate emotional response. There are serious questions to be answered, and we should reserve judgement till then.Spot on when something so tragically unexpected happens it’s very harsh to blame the officials. I’m not comparing the 2 events but the 1989 FA Cup semi final kicked off and played for 6 minutes or so with scores of people being crushed to death yards away. Decisions are easy made from the comfort of our front rooms and with hindsight but not quite so easy when your in the heat of the moment and it’s your call.
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Yes but officials at Newbury did access the situation today and declared it safe despite not knowing the cause. That for me is nothing short of imcompetence.
There were 10 horses in the parade ring today, two of them died in a freak incident that nobody can explain, officials assess the situation for half an hour and declare that it’s safe for the rest of the field to take their chance despite 20% of the horses in the parade ring dying with no explanation.
No excuse here people need to be held accountable for letting that first race go ahead.
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