Horse racing is an inherently dangerous sport. Bad accidents with serious ramifications can happen in the blink of an eye. There should never be anyone but licensed participants on the racetrack. It’s unfathomable that someone would want to get down to their britches and run alongside Standardbreds that are racing at full speed.
Although, that is exactly what happened this past weekend at the Newcastle International Paceway in Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that it was a 33-year-old male from Cooks Hill that decided to strip down to his underwear and streak in the safety lane as a field of harness horses raced through the homestretch.
(Please note that nothing inappropriate – besides the act itself – can be seen clearly in the video)
“Oh, what’s going on here?! We’ve got a streaker on the track, coming up towards the finish line! Be careful there, mate!” said the track announcer, who was as surprised as anyone with what he was seeing. After announcing the winner, the announcer continued, stating, “Oh, I got distracted” and “get that fool, will ya?”
It is not known whether the streaker was fined for racing inside two pylons, but he was issued an infringement notice for being inside a restricted area of a racecourse and was fined $500.
"I was shocked," Newcastle Harness Racing Club Chief Executive Tony Drew said, adding that the man made a "poor, poor choice." Drew went on to say that he’d "never seen that before, and I've been on racetracks for many years."
(With files from The Sydney Morning Herald)