Groundstaff get lucky at Bath

A serious accident was narrowly avoided at Bath thanks to the evasive action of jockeys Oisin Murphy and Royston Ffrench during the second race on the card.

The dramatic incident, which involved two members of the track's ground staff, took place during the concluding stages of the Gregor Renewable Heating Handicap over two miles and a furlong.

Both French on Snowy Dawn, and Murphy on eventual winner Havisham, were forced to swerve around the pair, who mistakenly thought the race was a five-furlong contest, shortly after the entrance to the home straight at around the three-furlong marker.

Susannah Gill, director of external affairs at Arena Racing Company, owners of Bath Racecourse, said: "The two people involved were members of the treading team at the track.

"They understood the race to be over five furlongs, not over two miles one. It was simply a case of human error. No one was injured and the race continued uninterrupted.

"Because they were out in the cold and the wind with their hoods up, it was perfectly possible they didn't hear the commentary and the first time they would have seen or heard the horses would have been when they came back round again.

"I understand the stewards have referred a report to the British Horseracing Authority head office."

reopens Snowy Dawn is trained by Steph Hollinshead, who said: "Royston didn't say too much apart from the fact that they would have probably got a bit of a shock. At least it happened with older horses and not two-year-olds. "It was a good job that the jockeys were on the ball and saw them when they did, as the visibility was not great because of the rain. "You would have thought they may have heard the commentator, but conditions were poor. It was just quite bizarre. "To be honest I've not really seen anything like it before. You sometimes see members of the public run across the track, but not people who work there. "I don't think it affected the result. We were chuffed with our lad, as the winner is a horse with ability."