Weekend deaths at Cheltenham 'could not have been predicted or prevented' says BHA report

There was no causal link between the three horses who died at Cheltenham on Sunday, according to the BHA, after post-mortem results were released on Thursday.

Investigations into the deaths of Abuffalosoldier, Bangers And Cash and Napper Tandy showed that “none of the fatalities could have been predicted or prevented prior to the race”, the BHA said.

Two of the three deaths occurred in the 3m3½f handicap chase. Bangers And Cash collapsed during the race and Abuffalosoldier after his victory while jockey Sean Bowen was being interviewed on ITV Racing.

The post-mortems revealed both horses had suffered from separate types of “cardiovascular collapse”, a form of exercise-associated sudden death (EASD), while Napper Tandy fractured his neck when falling in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.

According to the BHA, only nine in every 10,000 jumps runners suffer EASD. The most common forms are cardiopulmonary, such as a heart attack, or the rupture of a large blood vessel. Martin McLoughlin, the co-owner of Abuffalosoldier, said his horse died following an aortic rupture.

Cheltenham managing director Ian Renton said that the “welfare of our participants is our top priority” in response to the three deaths, and that course officials “continuously work alongside the BHA to reduce avoidable risk in our sport”.

Total attendance at last week’s three-day November meeting was more than 60,000, in line with last year’s figures. Following last year’s meeting, Renton outlined ambitions to grow spectator numbers for the meeting to 70,000 in 2026.

He said: “It was wonderful to welcome a crowd of over 60,000 across the three days of the November meeting. It was particularly pleasing to see a year-on-year increase of over 33 per cent of ticket purchasers aged between 18 and 24 years old.

“As an industry, we've been working hard to encourage younger fans into our sport and it's great to see this demographic increasing over our first two meetings of the season.”

Prize-money levels at this year’s November meeting were highlighted in coverage over the weekend, with the Paddy Power Gold Cup worth £10,000 less than last year alongside other contests that had lower prize funds compared to previous years.

Renton said prize-money remains a key part of the offering at Cheltenham and added: “The prize-money over the three days is just under £1 million, with three contests worth a minimum of £100,000.

“As always, we will continue to review our prize-money levels as we know the importance of ensuring our contributions are competitive and attractive to participants to ensure the best racing product we can. This is something we will continue to prioritise moving into the new year.”

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