Bath to take action after winner runs loose into adjoining farm

Officials at Bath have vowed to take preventive measures in a bid to ensure there will not be a repeat of Friday's incident when a loose horse galloped onto farmland adjoining the track.

The Clive Cox-trained juvenile Prince Of The Dark made a winning debut but unshipped jockey Adam Kirby after the winning post and ran loose at the top of the track.

He then picked his way down a hedgerow, making his way into a field, and a barbed wire fence had to be undone to get him safely back on the course.

The incident left Cox furious, but he reported on Saturday that the Alan Craddock-owned colt, who is under consideration for Royal Ascot, was unscathed.

He said: "I'm relieved and pleased to report he's fine. The less said about it the better. I would hope things will be dealt with accordingly."

Change needed

There is no white rail around the outside of the top bend at Bath, but that is now set to change, according to clerk of the course Katie Stephens.

"The bend has never had an outer rail on it, for as long as I can remember and for many clerks before me," Stephens said on Saturday.

"That doesn't necessarily make it right but we've not had the need to. We will put a rail on the top bend, that will be the first thing we do."

She added: "There is a few areas that we could look at and block off and make it more difficult for horses to gravitate to the area that this one did. There are lessons to be learned and as a result of yesterday we will be putting measures in place."

Click here to read about other horses who have ended up in unusual places