Beverley lightning strike: 'There was a guy on a stool that lifted off the ground and levitated forward with him on it'

Chief executive Sally Iggulden has relived frightening memories of a "colossal" lightning strike before racing at Beverley that had one person "levitating" on a stool.

There were no reports of injury or damage after Saturday's electrical storm, which caused the first race to be delayed as checks were made to ensure conditions were safe for the Coconut Cup meeting to go ahead.

There were no further lightning strikes on one of the track's most popular days of the year and racing carried on, albeit with rain falling through much of the afternoon and the ground changing officially from good to firm (good in places) to good to soft.

"It was a very interesting day to say the least," Iggulden said on Sunday. "We were under the yellow warning for random thunderstorms so we knew there might be some during the afternoon.

"We were watching the forecast and the satellite images and they suggested there weren't going to be any lightning strikes near us. So we opened the gates just before midday and then totally out of the blue we had one lightning strike at 12.30pm and the noise was colossal. I can't tell you how loud the bang was."

The largest bolt of lightning hit the presentation podium in the parade ring, with other prongs striking elsewhere.

Iggulden said: "I seriously thought there was some structural damage somewhere because the crack that accompanied the lightning was absolutely huge. But amazingly there was no damage, no scorched grass or anything like that. We were incredibly lucky really. That was the only one we got all day but it was very scary.

"One of the car park attendants in the course enclosure went down. He had his radio clipped to his side pocket and we think that flashed with a massive spark and was frazzled and sent him to the floor. He was totally fine.

"A few others fell over with the shock of it. There was a guy sat on a stool that lifted off the ground and levitated forward with him on it."

The team at Beverley had received emergency training on what to do in the event of a lightning strike and Iggulden said: "We checked everyone was okay and we were on high alert in case we got something similar again, because it's not ideal with a large gathering of people and horses.

"That's why the first race was delayed as we moved the horses back up to the pre-parade ring, so they were under the saddling boxes out of the way of any lightning.

"Thank heavens we didn't get any further lightning, although we had rumbles of thunder and it rained most of the day."

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