Punchestown carnage as horse crashes through rail knocking several out of contention

Daily Mirror

29-04-2025

The 2025 Punchestown Festival got off to a dramatic start when a number of runners were effectively put out of the race by the incident in the first race of the week
The 2025 Punchestown Festival got off to a dramatic start on Tuesday when horses crashed through the rail. The five-day fixture traditionally begins with a cross country chase over three miles and 26 jumps on the track's famous banks course.
Fralimonti Bilbery went off the 3-1 favourite for the 16-runner race but he became a victim of the worst of the carnage. He was biding his time along the inside and had yet to launch a challenge when he was pushed through the running rail after the third last fence.
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Describing the incident, RacingTV presenter Gary O'Brien said: 'Fralimonti Bilbery looks like he is trying to get a run up the inside of Haggard here.
'They are crossing a road, the rail gets dislodged. I don't know if it is by one of the runners up ahead. It's very hard to tell from that angle. Look at that!'
Three sections of the rail appeared to come away resulting in some of the following horses and riders getting caught up and impeded.
With the rail demolished, Fralimonti Berry was pulled up before the next jump, as was Haggard, and a gap opened between the first four and the remainder which had been affected by the incident.
Victory went to Transprint for trainer Richie O'Keeffe who also saddled the second finisher Turnupdevolume.
There were no reports of injuries to horses or riders.