Horse dies after grim injury at York Racecourse as viewers horrified | Racing | Sport
A horse died on the first day of the Dante Festival at York Racecourse after suffering a horrific injury which left viewers sickened. Hispanic, a four-year-old colt, sustained a broken leg in the 2.45pm race over six furlongs after clipping heels with another horse.
The horse, trained by Mick Appleby, clipped heels and unseated jockey Rossa Ryan in the early stages of the race. Hispanic clambered to his feet and attempted to carry on, but his leg was clearly broken and it was not long before he fell down again.
Hispanic was put down as a result of the injury, prompting ITV racing host Ed Chamberlin to describe the fall as a ‘horrible, horrible incident’. He said: “That looked awful. I just saw Hispanic’s groom and she appeared very, very upset. Hispanic had to be put down.
“You can feel the sadness around the racecourse. Huge sympathy to the Appleby team and Elisabeth Cash who owned Hispanic. That was a horrible, horrible incident.”
Appleby posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Our sincere condolences to [owner] Elisabeth Cash after the tragic accident at York with Hispanic. Thoughts with her and connections.”
Hispanic was making his first start for new trainer Appleby since being sold at the end of last season by his Coolmore connections. Another shocking incident occurred in the very next race, with Tiber Flow taking an almighty tumble after clipping heels in a similar fashion.
Tom Marquand, the jockey, was unseated but appeared to be unhurt while Tiber Flow thankfully walked away from the scene unharmed. ITV commentator Richard Hoiles said: “Just to let you know Tiber Flow seems to be moving fluently and his rider Tom Marquand is up as well.”
The two flashpoints involving Hispanic and Tiber Flow came just days after Hidden Law suffered a fatal injury at Chester during the May Festival.
Hidden Law, trained by Charlie Appleby, had just crossed the line to win the Boodles Chester Vase, a leading trial for next month’s Epsom Derby. However, he sustained a serious injury when being pulled up by jockey William Buick, who dismounted as soon as the horse took a false step.
Speaking after the incident, Appleby said: “He fractured his leg, unfortunately. He passed the line all OK and then when he’s crossed the road, he’s taken a false step on it and he’s come down on it basically. It’s one of those very freak accidents.”
