Yarmouth abandoned as horse’s fatal fall sends jockey to hospital
Racing at Yarmouth was abandoned midway through the meeting yesterday due to concerns about the safety of the racing surface, after a jockey was knocked unconscious when his horse suffered a fatal fall near the finish.
Lord Chapelfield was holding third place in division two of the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Handicap, the third race, when he crashed to the ground inside the final furlong, catapulting his rider, Gabriele Malune, into the ground.
Malune was unconscious when he was initially reached by medics and treated on the ground, but was talking again by the time he was placed on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston. He was released two hours later with no serious injury.
A deputation of jockeys, including jockeys’ safety officer PJ Mcdonald, went with stewards to inspect the area of the track where the incident occurred. “We found a patch of ground that was easier to move, with inconsistent ground underneath,” Mcdonald said. “We couldn’t tell if that was on a patch where they hadn’t raced yet, so we had to do the right thing and cancel the meeting.”
The stewards also concluded that Lord Chapelfield fell after sustaining an injury.
Richard Aldous, Yarmouth’s clerk of the course, said: “The jockeys were concerned about the mark the horse made when he fell. They felt the course wasn’t fit in their opinion. You have to respect their opinion as they are the ones riding on it. We will now have a look at the course and take it from there.
“We will have a further look at the course this evening and tomorrow to see where we are at ahead of the meeting that is scheduled to take place on Friday.
“I think it was a unanimous decision by the jockeys and you have to respect that. It was terrible to see.”
Italian Malune, 24, has ridden 70 winners and is apprenticed to Newmarket trainer Amy Murphy, who trained Lord Chapelfield.
Murphy said: “Gabriele’s CT scan has come back clear, so thank goodness he is absolutely fine, just battered and bruised.
“It was horrible to watch. Gabriele is my apprentice and we have lost a horse, so it is devastating.
“He was unconscious and not in a good way for the first five minutes. I hope I am never in this position again.”