The Sunday, September 13 program of live racing from Leamington Raceway was marred by an accident which resulted in a ‘no contest.’

Race 8, which was a $2,800 event for claiming pacing fillies and mares, was declared a no contest after two horses were involved in an accident.

According to the chart lines from the race, the William Leon-trained and Mark Pezzarello-driven Windsong Karma fell to the track early in the contest and was involved in the accident.

The chart also indicates that the Dennis Morrissey-trained and Tyler Borth-driven Regal Again was also involved in the accident, but that the horse did not fall to the track.

UPDATE: Leamington officials have provided Trot Insider with a complete update regarding the accident that took place during the track's eighth race on Sunday

M G Idle, who was heavily favoured, charged off of the gate with driver Nick Steward and made the lead before the turn. The second choice in the race, Regal Again (who was driven by Tyler Borth), was gunning for the two-hole, as was Windsong Karma (Mark Pezzarello).

Approaching the turn, Windsong Karma hit a knee boot and went down. Regal Again could not avoid locking wheels, and Borth was ejected from his race bike. Pezarello managed to get Windsong Karma up and moved to the outside, but Regal Again continued on without a driver.

Regal Again continued to ‘race,’ and moved into the remaining field. Steward, who was leading, came off the pylons in front of the grandstand and allowed the loose horse to come up off the rail.

The sirens blew, and track announcer Marty Adler announced for all drivers to head to the paddock and shut the gates. The runaway, Regal Again, was alone on the track. She paced for another mile and a half before running out of steam in front of the paddock, and into the grasp of a backstretch horseman.

No drivers were hurt. The fallen horse (Windsong Karma) only had some dirt on her right hip. Given the events, the judges declared the race a no contest.

Also on Sunday, conditioner Cathy Gaudreau of Bothwell moved up to second in the local trainer ranks courtesy of a two-win afternoon. Her victories came with two-year-old filly Dex The Land (2:03.2, $18.70) and the four-year-old chestnut mare Blissfullannmarie (1:59.3, $20.20). Gaudreau’s two wins give her six victories after the first eight cards of racing. She currently trails leader Gord McDonnell by four wins.

The card’s feature race was won by the Larry Fitzsimmons-trained Stoney Durkin (1:57.2, $3.90). Fitzsimmons co-owns with William Durkin of Sparta. Fitzsimmons’ grandson, Nick Steward, drove the six-year-old son of Whosurboy. The win was Steward’s third on the program and his 35th of the meet.

The ninth program of Leamington’s 14-date meet is scheduled for this coming Sunday (September 20). First-race post time is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

To view the harness racing results for Sunday at Leamington, click the following link: Sunday Results – Leamington Raceway.

(With files from Leamington)