According to a report, a racetrack recently had to host just a single one-furlong dash in order to secure its simulcasting licence for the 2015 racing season. The race did not go according to plan.
An article by the Omaha World-Herald explains that on Thursday, September 4, Lincoln Race Course held its inaugural race, which featured three entrants and was to be contested at the distance of one furlong.
The report states that the track at the Thoroughbred raceway is still under construction and only the home stretch has been completed.
Husker Ridge, who was one of the three horses in the field, finished the race, but could not be pulled up after the event.
Jockey Zach Ziegler was aboard the six-year-old mare, but jumped off his mount before the distaffer exited the racecourse. The 330-yard distance past the finish line was not a sufficient distance for the mare to gear down, as she smashed through a barricade, left the track, ran up a hill, and bolted down a local road. There was an outrider keeping an eye on the race, but he/she was unable to coral the horse before things took a turn for the worse.
The mare’s trainer, Dean Bliss, who had watched what unfolded, hopped in his pickup truck and was in hot pursuit. He returned 30 minutes later with mare in his trailer.
The article states that Bliss found Husker Ridge a few miles away out front of someone’s home.
(With files from the Omaha World-Herald)
