Horse racing has seen its fair share of oddities in the homestretch over the years. Fans, animals, and objects have all made their way onto the course at one time or another. Although, what happened in the lane at a track this past Friday (September 9) may have been a first.
An article on bt.com explains that a flying golf ball caused a jockey to be dismounted during a race at England’s Sandown Park Racecourse.
The bt.com piece states that the five-furlong turf course is located beside the Sandown Park Golf Course, and officials check the track regularly for errant balls.
Well, one thing is for certain – the track crew missed at least one.
During the Friday race, rider Kieren Fox was dismounted after the field of charging horses accidently kicked a ball up off the turf.
The article states that the ball was kicked up and then ricocheted off the helmet of jockey Charlie Bennett, who went on to finish third.
The ball then flew in the direction Luxford, who was the filly that Fox was aboard. The ball spooked Luxford, who proceeded to dump Fox.
"She jinked but it all happened so fast I had no idea what had caused it,” racingpost.com has quoted Fox as saying. “When I saw the replays I've seen [the ball] come off Charlie's helmet and straight across in front of my filly's face."
Racingpost.com has also quoted the track’s clerk of the course, Andrew Cooper, as saying, "With a golf course within a racecourse balls are bound to stray, and we take all reasonable and appropriate measures to remove them. We find them regularly and on a raceday, but the reality is when the grass is four or five inches long you often have to step on a golf ball to know it's there.”
(With files from bt.com and racingpost.com)