Trainers and staff put their lives on the line as fires ravage New South Wales

The catastrophic bushfires that have caused devastation in New South Wales have led to trainers and racing staff risking their lives to protect their horses.

More than 85 fires in the state were reported to be burning on Tuesday, 46 of which have yet to be contained and are within miles of Sydney's city centre.

Three people have died and many homes destroyed, while Scone's meeting on Tuesday was postponed for 24 hours by Racing New South Wales.

Trainer Terry Evans, based at Tuncurry, which is three or so hours north of Sydney on the coast, was forced to release his horses on to the centre of the track two weeks ago when the fire got close to his stables, while he had to flee his nearby property on Friday, fearing for his life.

Reliving the nightmare to RSN Racing Pulse, he said: "The horses were our main concern to start with, but towards the end of it on Friday afternoon, I did get a bit frightened for our lives. I had to jump into the car and run, it got that bad.

"We got back towards town and we were driving through flames that were as high as the top of the car. It was just unbelievable – hard to fathom what it was like."

Evans felt it was a miracle he survived, along with his horses and house.

"I didn't think our house would be there Saturday morning," he added. "We were that surprised. A friend of ours rang me and went up through the bush on their motorbike to have a look and said, 'You can't believe it, it's a little green oasis in this sparse area'. The horses were standing there and the house is in one piece."

The crisis, expected to worsen this week, has also affected prominent commercial breeder Ian Smith, who is stranded in Sydney as the fire raged close to his Edinburgh Park Stud in NSW.

"The fires are about three or four kilometres from us," he told ANZ Bloodstock News. "We are on high alert. I have been in Sydney stranded here since Thursday. My son's in the army and he has got in there somehow to help out.

"The staff are on the farm and have been there for the past three days. I was in Melbourne on Thursday for Oaks day and then we had a runner in Sydney [on Saturday] and we would have rather got back to the farm, but we couldn't."

Smith, who described the situation as "absolutely terrible", felt conditions and the lack of rain had made fighting the flames extremely difficult.

Along with Scone's fixture on Tuesday, more of the racing programme is expected to be interrupted with the Port Macquarie fixture on Thursday being monitored.

Racing NSW said the safety of the sport's participants – human and equine – came first and its chief steward Marc van Gestel said: "We're monitoring the NSW Rural Fire Service website. It gives us an indication of where the fires are at and if they are under control or not.

"This will be a situation we will continue to monitor in the days ahead and if we do make a decision relating to a race meeting, we will notify people as quickly as it is possible."

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