A DEVASTATED owner said ‘heartbroken doesn’t come close’ after his horse suffered a fatal injury in a voided Chelmsford race.
The 8.30pm contest on Thursday was called off with the horses still running as medics rushed to treat five-year-old Lunar Space.
The Jamie Osborne-trained gelding suffered a knock early on and lost his action.
Officials raced out onto the track with hazard flags and stop whistles to get jockeys to pull up their horses before they could reach Lunar Space.
Sadly, the horse’s injury proved fatal – leaving co-owner Steve Whiston crestfallen.
Part of the The Judges & Partner syndicate who own the horse, Whiston posted on social media: “Heartbroken doesn’t even come close.
“Thank you for all the amazing memories. Days that will live with me for a lifetime. Rest easy, Space.”
Although the race was voided without further incident, how it was brought to a stop will be investigated by the BHA.
A yellow ‘stop race’ flag must be waved to tell jockeys to pull up their horses immediately.
But it was not used on this occasion meaning jockeys had to act quickly and use their instincts once they saw officials on the course.
The stewards’ report read: “An enquiry was held to consider the circumstances around whether this race should be declared void.
“The Clerk of the Course, David Egan, Dougie Costello, Oisin Murphy and Luke Morris were interviewed and shown recordings of the incident.
“Having successfully deployed hazard flags and whistles, in the home straight, the riders had sufficient time to safely pull up their mounts.
“After hearing the evidence, the Stewards were satisfied to declare the race void on the grounds of welfare.
“Further evidence was heard from the Clerk of Course as to why the yellow ‘stop race’ flag had not been deployed and a report was forwarded to the Head Office of the British Horseracing Authority for further consideration.”
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