Reports from Europe indicate that the North American harness racing community is not the only one being impacted by barn fires and equine fatalities.
On Tuesday night, a barn near Wolvega in The Netherlands was found engulfed by stable employees. While some of the horses were able to be released, three horses were unreachable and did not survive the fire.
Trainer Jeroen Offeringa lost two horses in the fire: Hurricane Polly and Ursulo de Bellevue. The third horse was Giorgio Meadow, owned by Jitske Oord and her family.
Six fire crews were called to scene. The shed where the fire started was reduced to ashes, and the cause of the blaze has yet to be determined.
A Dutch-language news report from The Netherlands follows:
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences those connected to and impacted by this tragic event.