Seven horse pile up at Ayr

AYR officials were forced to abandon racing on Monday afternoon after seven of the 12 runners came down upon entering the home straight bend during the third race.

Heavy rain had fallen before the meeting on what was good to firm ground and two of the horses slipped, while the others were brought down. Balwearie brought five horses down when being the first to slip up and fall, while Neon Blue, who was in the rear at the time, slipped independently and unseated Amy Ryan. Darfour was another horse to slip independently, but he managed to stay on his feet and finish, despite rider Daniel Tudhope losing his irons amid the chaos.

All seven horses who came down got to their feet but Joe Fanning, who was on board the brought-down All In The Red, broke his collarbone in the incident. The race was won by 12-1 chance Whaston.
Ayr Carnage

Talk Of Saafend (white and purple) and Neon Blue(red cap) come down

An inspection and stewards' inquiry took place afterwards, during which the track was deemed unraceable.

Ayr officials said their decision to abandon was in the interests of safety and stressed they would be "delighted" to let horses test the course before racing in the future.

Stuart Morrison, a director at the track, told Racing UK: "It is terribly frustrating, and it was an horrific incident, I've been going racing for 40 years and I've only seen one comparable and that was at Hamilton 20 years ago.

"I think it is the right decision in the end because it shoots the confidence of the jockeys as they see their colleagues fall.

"The incident was in the straight, I have to stress, and the stewards have made that quite clear - it was a fall as the horses came into the straight.

Ian Ferguson, head of public relations at the track, added: "Speaking just after the abandonment, the public probably don't have much confidence in the racecourse atthe moment and it is up to us to give them that confidence back.

"There was rain before the first race and whether that caused the problem we don't know, it was in the straight and it probably involved a tiring horse as well - there's a lot of things to take into consideration."

Those involved in the 1m2f handicap expressed their unhappiness at the outcome.

Jockey PJ McDonald, who came down on Northside Prince, said: "It's a disgrace."



While Whipma Whopma Gate's rider David Nolan added: "It was very slippery."

Graham Gibbons, who was able to avoid the carnage on Whaston, said: "I was in front and I was able to pull out and make my own bend so I was okay."

Noel Wilson, whose Jigajig also slipped passing the post in the second race, said: "It's even slippery on the straight course. My horse jinked and then propped and then went over."

There have been previous controversies over the state of the course at Ayr.

Robert Winston was in the lead in the jockeys’ championship on August 7, 2005 when involved in a horrifying fall that left him with a broken jaw and sidelined for the rest of the year.

Winston was hurt when Pearl’s A Singer slipped up on the bend and brought down another horse. Two other horses were badlyhampered and their jockeys were knocked out of the saddle. The other three jockeys involved were unhurt and the rest of the card was abandoned.

In May last year, racing was abandoned 20 minutes after the advertised time of the first race because of a patch of false ground. Questions were asked as to why officials did not spot a problem earlier at the track’s first meeting since undergoing drainage work.

The problem centred on an area of ground three and ahalf furlongs from the finish and about three metres in from the far rail, leaving only another ten metres width of 'suitable ground' as the rest of the course had already been dolled off to protect it for future meetings.

Ex-gratia compensation payments were made to trainers who sent horses to the meeting, but after considering reports on the incident, the BHA decided against disciplinary action.

Monday's fiasco was also the latest in a catalogue of calamities forracing over the past three weeks, headlined by the abandonment of Worcester and Uttoxeter after just one race on July 1 and 7 respectively.

On a baking hot day, Worcester was forced to call its meeting off after it took 800 gallons ofwater to revive Highland Laddie and the course could not meet the demand for water for the day's other runners. Racing at Uttoxeter was abandoned after heavy rain left two course crossings unsuitable for racing and then an ambulance got stuck in the mud.Racegoers were angry that it took nearly an hour after the first race for the decision to be taken.

This could have been so much worse,all the horses appear to be ok..

That was Hectic Hibby one of the worst I have seen on the flat, it was more like the Scottish Grand National, also run at Ayr!

another travesty: