A black day at horse racing in England. Three horses died, one of them during a conversation with a jockey – Other sports

Sunday’s races in Cheltenham, England, were in a sad mood. Three horses died there in a single afternoon, The Guardian reported.

Illustrative image: The racetrack in Cheltenham, England, experienced an extremely sad afternoon.

Among them was even the winner of one of the races, the horse Abuffalosoldier, who died while talking to the jockey who led him to the finish line.

Abuffalosoldier collapsed shortly after crossing the finish line as winner of the prestigious Holland Cooper Handicap Chase. A reporter from the British television ITV Sport followed the winning jockey to interview him. Shortly before it was finished, the horse shuddered and fell to the ground.

The incident came less than five minutes after another racehorse, Bangers And Cash, similarly collapsed after crossing the 14th hurdle in the same race. Suspicion of cardiovascular collapse was subsequently confirmed in both horses.

According to veterinarian Liam Kearns, horses are always carefully checked before the race, but a similar situation can never be completely ruled out, the BBC reported.

“All animals are thoroughly checked before leaving for the races, and closely monitored after arriving at the venue. But the racing is very intense. Similar situations can occur when people also run marathons or long distances. In this case, it’s a huge coincidence that it happened during one race,” said the vet.

A third tragedy occurred during another race that same afternoon. Napper Tandy was fatally injured after falling just two hurdles short of the finish line.

“Today’s losses are a huge tragedy and we are all thinking about them. As with other fatal accidents, we will try to understand all the circumstances in order to continue to reduce the risks in our sport,” the organizers said through a press spokesperson.