Banna Strand jumps into spectators at Grand Annual – Horse Racing news
The spectators that came to watch the Grand Annual being held in Victoria, Australia did not expect to be jumped on by a horse. But that is the exact incident that took place just recently.
The event that was underway was the Warrnambool carnival and the horse that jumped was Banna Strand. The horse was without a rider which is why it was able to gallop uncontrolled straight into the spectators while the steeplechase event was going on. Banna
Strand was able to join the spectators after he leapt over a fence that was eight foot high and served the purpose of separating the crowd from the field. After Banna Strand had made the leap over the divide, he went on to gallop on the road running next to
the racetrack.
As a result, seven of the audience members were injured with some of them suffering serious injuries. All of the injured party was rushed off to the nearest hospital where they were treated accordingly.
Out of the seven, four spectators did not have any serious injuries and were discharged after due treatment was given to them. However, from amongst those who underwent injuries of a serious nature was a girl aged two years. The child was discovered to have
fractured her collarbone as a result of the incident. The two other people who were not discharged were sent to be x-rayed in order to determine if they had suffered any serious injuries.
Horse racing events that feature jumping horses is only allowed in two states of Australia as there have been protests from many quarters about the potential hazards it poses to the horse, jockey as well as the spectators. The Banna Strand incident is going
to give more voice to the opponents of jump racing.
According to the chief executive of The Racing Victoria, Rob Hines, an inquiry is being conducted into the matter.
“You take the precautions, you would have thought an eight-foot fence on the boundary of the course was sufficient,” he said. “We will have to investigate, talking to the local council on whether that road should be closed to the general public in future.”
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