Sligo abandons for safety reasons after fourth-race drama on Flat card

Racing was abandoned after four races at Sligo on Friday afternoon for safety reasons.

Stewards decided abandonment was necessary after four horses slipped up on the bend past the stands during and after the 1m2f Kevin Egan Cars Handicap.

After the first three races were all run over the 5½ furlong trip, the fourth race was the first where they raced past the stands. On the bend, Ideal Pal under Donagh O'Connor seemed to take a false step and came down.

O'Connor got up, as did the horse, who galloped loose with the rest of the field and looked to contribute to what happened after the race finished.

As they passed the post, fourth-placed Multamis appeared to contact the loose horse before coming down on the same bend under Ben Coen, while to the outside, runner-up In From The Cold under Joey Sheridan and the unplaced Sicario under Ronan Whelan also slipped up, although the latter was at least partially distracted by the faller in front of him.

All horses were unscathed, but jockey Coen suffered a broken collarbone and faces a spell on the sidelines.

Groundstaff attempted to sand the bend, but after a delegation of riders and trainers met stewards, it was decided to call the rest of the meeting off in the interests of safety, with races to come over 1m2f and 1m4f.

Tracey O'Meara: 'we'll be looking at it over the next few days'Credit: David Carr

Clerk of the course Tracey O'Meara said: "If you look at where the horses slipped, it was where the National Hunt horses were crossing back into the stable yard on Wednesday and it possibly became a bit greasy, but I'm not really sure.

"We'll be looking at it over the next few days. There's no more Flat racing at Sligo for the rest of the year. It's all jump racing from here on, but it's something we will have to sort out regardless of the code."

Ronan Whelan, whose mount Sicario was one of the casualties, had also ridden in two of the preceding sprint races. He said: "The horse in front of me caught my horse's eye and he jinked, but as he jinked the ground definitely shifted from underneath him.

"You could feel the ground going a bit when we were pulling up in the previous few races, although not to the same extent. It was definitely the right decision to call it off."

Racing is due to return to Sligo on August 19.

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