A racehorse escaped from the track and galloped into the nearby town after completing a race on Thursday evening. The Godolphin-owned Levens Hall, trained in Newmarket by John and Thady Gosden, was competing in the 6.30 race at Southwell, a one-mile contest for maidens.
Incident Details
The 14-1 chance made rapid headway in the closing stages to snatch third place under jockey Luke Catton, less than a length behind his stablemate Harmonics, the race winner. However, he unshipped his rider after the line and ran loose. It was subsequently revealed that he escaped from the Nottinghamshire track and ran off towards Southwell town.
Track Official's Account
The track's clerk of the course, John Holliday, explained the turn of events to Sky Sports Racing. He said: "The jockey was unseated after the race on the way back to the horsewalk. The horse broke through the rails, across the golf course and made it as far as Racecourse Road and he got down to Southwell town unfortunately."
Sky reporter Simon Mapletoft asked: "The Racecourse Road parallel to the track is two miles in length, so it's galloped all the way down there into the town?" Holliday confirmed: "Yes it did. It went into town, through town and into a wheat field the other side where they caught it."
Aftermath
Holliday added: "It's apparently uninjured. Obviously, he'll be checked over thoroughly by the vets when he gets back. He is visually unscathed and hopefully he will be completely unscathed. It was very unusual." The following race was delayed to allow time for the horse ambulance to get back into position. Regarding the jockey, Holliday said: "Luke's fine. He was up straight away." Both horse and rider are reported to be unhurt following the unusual incident.
