Tragedy strikes at Cheltenham as three horses die in a single afternoon – together with one shortly after profitable a race – as authorities vow to analyze heartbreaking deaths

Cheltenham experienced one of its darkest afternoons in modern times after three horses died – including one as an interview was being concluded on ITV.

Abuffalosoldier – who was ridden by Sean Bowen, trained in Lambourn by Warren Greatrex and owned by the Mahler and The Wailers group – had produced an incredible display of jumping and galloping in the Holland Cooper Handicap Chase and crossed the line to a hero’s ovation.

Bowen was greeted by ITV’s on-course reporter Alice Plunkett at the top of the straight, as it custom, and gave her his thoughts about things had unfolded but, just after the pair had finished speaking, Abuffalosoldier lost his balance and slithered to the ground. Cameras immediately cut away.

The seven-year-old gelding was attended to be racecourse vets but he could not be saved; there had already been a dark post as Bangers And Cash – trained by Ben Pauling for owners OAP II and partnered by Ben Jones – was pulled up at the 14th of 22 fences. He, too, suffered a heart attack.

The shocking nature of the incident left the ITV presenting crew, headed by Ed Chamberlin, visibly upset and connections of the horses were inconsolable. Viewers described the scene as ‘unwatchable’ and ‘devastating’.

To make matters worse, however, Napper Tandy, trained by Matthew J Smith for owner Ray Stokes, suffered a fatal fall in the following race, the Greatwood Hurdle. 

Cheltenham witnessed a tragic afternoon as three horses died – including Abuffalosoldier, who had won the Holland Cooper Handicap Chase, ridden by Sean Bowen

Bangers And Cash also suffered a heart attack after pulling up at the 14th fence (pictured at Uttoxeter)

Napper Tandy suffered a fatal fall in the Greatwood Hurdle (pictured at Punchestown, Kildare)

The British Horseracing Authority also swiftly issued a statement, saying: ‘The losses of Abuffalosoldier, Bangers And Cash and Napper Tandy at Cheltenham are a tragedy for all connections and the thoughts of all of us at the BHA are with them.

‘All three were provided with outstanding care and attention throughout their lives by those who cared for them and nobody will be more heartbroken tonight than those individuals. As with all fatalities, we will seek to understand the circumstances behind each incident.

‘We strive to continue to reduce avoidable risk in our sport. All factual data relating to fatal injury rates in British racing can be found at www.horsepwr.co.uk and the overall fatal injury rate in Jump Racing is 0.42% of runners.’

Liam Kearns, the on-course vet leading the team at Cheltenham, gave a detailed explanation to ITV about the nature of what happened to Abuffalosoldier. He said: ‘The horse bowled along in front and jumped everything fantastically well. He was full of running up to the finish.

‘Afterwards, as he was turning at the top, he collapsed and he was dead within a very short period of time. This will be a cardiovascular issue. It could be a heart attack, it could be a major artery – we won’t know until a post-mortem is conducted.

‘It is a high-risk in elite athletes, whether they are horses or humans. Any time there is an exertion or an event, there is a risk. In the welfare situation, all these horses are thoroughly checked out at home before they come to the races. If connections aren’t happy, they don’t come.

‘They are checked on arrival at the races by the veterinary team. There are vets dotted around the course, the jockeys are experienced. We do everything we can to mitigate it but there is always going to be chance an elite horse will do a fantastic job and then collapse at the end, which is unfortunately what happened.’