RACING:RACING WILL resume at Newbury today, six days after the death of two horses by electrocution before the start of the first race on Totesport Trophy day.

That race remains the feature event of the rescheduled card, with 15 runners due to go to post, but while there will be few obvious signs at the track of the drama that played out on Saturday it could be several weeks before every question about the tragic accident is answered.

Southern Electric, which removed a cable from the paddock area for examination earlier this week, stressed yesterday their investigation into the incident is “still ongoing”, but the track has satisfied the British Horseracing Authority it is completely safe for both humans and horses.

“The construction of the cable is going to be examined in great detail and hopefully SE will be able to provide us with a reason why it broke down, as obviously we are as interested as anybody. We need to give them time to get it right, and we will await their full report. It would be unfair to put pressure on them to rush it through,” Stephen Higgins, Newbury’s managing director, said yesterday.

“The cable was feeding a redundant building, that’s really as much as we know at this stage,” Higgins said. “It was on their (SE’s) network, and it was their responsibility.”

The results of post-mortem examinations on Fenix Two and Marching Song, the two horses who died on Saturday, have confirmed that both were electrocuted. “The authority has been officially informed that there was leakage of electricity from a cable under the parade ring in the area where the incident occurred”, Tim Morris, the British Horseracing Authority’s director of equine science and welfare, said yesterday.

“There was immediate veterinary attention, and our inquiry on the day noted the racecourse veterinary surgeons felt a tingling sensation when examining the horses, and that the veterinary surgeons noted particular clinical signs such as muscle contractions.

“Both horses have undergone examinations which showed sudden cardiac arrest as the cause of death. These findings are all consistent with the cause of death being accidental electrocution and at this stage we are not investigating any other cause of death.

Guardian Service