Newbury investigation underway

An investigation is under way into the deaths of two horses who collapsed and died after apparently being electrocuted in a freak accident at Newbury racecourse.

The meeting had to be abandoned after Fenix Two and Marching Song were killed as a result of what is believed to have been an electric shock from underneath the paddock. A further two horses were seen to "wobble" and a lead rein on one of the dead animals was rumoured to have shown traces of burning.

Racing was cancelled after Saturday's first run due to health and safety concerns.

Newbury chairman Christopher Spence said: "It's a nightmare for everybody. We can't be certain what it is, we all think it's electric, but we don't know."

He added that the cause of the horses' deaths had not been established. on Saturday night, it was confirmed that electrical engineers called to the racecourse had discovered a cable under the parade ring.

A spokeswoman for Newbury racecourse said: "The Southern Electric Board came in and did an investigation and found a cable. At this stage we cannot confirm if that definitely was the reason for the incident."

Newbury joint managing director Stephen Higgins said there was a "distinct possibility" that maintenance carried out before Saturday's meeting had disturbed the cable, which is believed to have been buried for at least 40 years.

"We have done some routine maintenance during the week, we do that every race meeting before racing, and whether or not that has disturbed something in the ground that had caused this catastrophic incident to occur to those horses we are not sure yet, but it is a distinct possibility," Higgins said.

Mr Higgins also suggested that the reason the horses, rather than the spectators, were affected was due to the animal's metal shoes and greater number of legs.

"The two (horses) who died had steel shoes on and the two who were ok had aluminium plates on, so there's a distinct possibility that the conductivity of the electricity has affected the horses and not humans," he added.