Several persons were struck down by a horse during the Guyana Cup horseracing event on Sunday at the Port Mourant Turf Club, Berbice.
One of the directors of the track, Kris Jagdeo told Stabroek Sport on Monday that safety measures were in place but some fans, who he said must have been caught up in the euphoria while intoxicated, did not adhere to the rules.
“We had an incident free day except for that race and that is because of the indiscipline of some of the patrons. The police did a good job all day but the last race was run in almost total darkness so some of those fans used that opportunity to do what they did. But we will have to make sure something like this never happens again,” he said.
Video footage of the race by Capitol News revealed that the event was not held in “almost total darkness.” There were reports that several persons were injured but Berbice police indicated that no official report of the incident was made and they are currently waiting for persons who were struck down to make a report.
The Capitol News footage showed that several persons were knocked over by a racing horse while they were on the race track. As the horse careened off the track after knocking down the first male, it barreled into several other persons. The video footage showed that the race was down to its final seconds.
The video showed that as the group of horses was approaching the finish line, a spectator clothed in a green T-shirt and short pants ran behind the two leading horse without paying any attention to what was behind him.
Immediately after the unidentified spectator ran behind the two horses, “Jack in my style” that was running at the side of the track throughout the race, struck him down then ploughed into the crowd of spectators knocking approximately 6-8 persons down like dominoes. The group of persons were not behind any barricades and were on the sides of the track. The video also showed that the jockey had fallen off the stallion. The horse belonged to Jumbo Jet Horse stables.
Stabroek News understands that despite the incident, persons still ran behind the leading horses to the finish line to collect their winning bets. The Capitol News report stated that the first injured person remained on the ground for several minutes unconscious.
The Port Mourant Hospital confirmed that on Sunday, several persons went to the hospital and received treatment during the time the incident reportedly occurred. However, a nurse stated that she could not say whether the persons who received treatment came from the horseracing event or any other event. She also noted that the hospital did not treat anyone for bruises, laceration, fractures or broken bones.
Organizer of the event Nasrudeen Mohamed Jr told Stabroek News that no one died at the event as was rumoured but confirmed that a horse came into contact with spectators.
Secretary of the Port Mourant Turf Club Rad Ramnauth said that after the incident, he, along with other members tried to identify and contact the injured persons but their efforts were futile. He stated that the “injured persons took their own course of actions… so we don’t have any concrete evidence as to what happened.”
Acting ‘B’ Division police commander Errol Watts became aware of the incident at midday yesterday after being shown the Capitol News report by Stabroek News. He stated that police were on the ground on race day and worked under the Supervision of ASP Brown and Inspector Williams. However, he indicated that the police had not received any official report of the incident and are currently waiting for persons who were struck down to make a report.
He also expressed sympathy towards the injured persons stating that the incident is very unfortunate. The commander called on spectators to be more alert at such events and desist from entering the race track whilst a race is being run.
Stabroek News learnt that organizers of the event had beefed up security and throughout the day, police kept the crowd under control. However, as it boiled down to the final lap of the last race, the crowd overcame the lawmen.
Many declared that this was the largest crowd gathered at the Port Mourant Turf club for a race. The site does not have the capacity to accommodate the thousands of persons who turned up.
In a letter in yesterday’s edition of Stabroek News, a spectator C. Woolford stated that the accommodation was inadequate. “We travelled from West Coast Demerara all the way to Port Mourant, Berbice with high expectations of the event. When we got to the venue, it was observed that there was a huge crowd which we estimated as being about 12,000. The small seating stand was filled with about 1000 patrons. The balance of the crowd was seen climbing on the roofs of their vehicles and running up and down to get a glimpse of the horses on the track,” Woolford wrote.
The letter-writer stated that approximately 12,000 tickets for a stand with seating capacity for only 1000 could technically be viewed as fraud. There must be some form of legally acceptable standard for these public events, he stated.
