29 June 2021

Hamilton called off following incident before racing

29 June 2021

Tuesday’s meeting at Hamilton was abandoned following an incident at the track.

The first race was scheduled for 2.15pm, with that time initially revised to 2.45pm before a further delay was announced as emergency services attended the incident.

Just after 3.35pm an announcement was made over the loudspeaker that racing had been abandoned.

Clerk of the course Harriet Graham confirmed the incident involved two RaceTech employees, who operate the cameras on site.

She said: “About half an hour before the first race an incident happened involving RaceTech operators and a hoist.

“Our emergency teams reacted immediately and then we needed to call the fire service and ambulances, so we had three fire engines on site and the police.

“It took them a long time to assess the situation and extract them and take them off to hospital. During this time the timeline became more and more extended.

“The decision was we would wait for CID to arrive to see if we could continue racing, but they indicated they wouldn’t be making a decision in the short term.

“So, we held a stewards’ inquiry and the decision was made to call off racing. Whilst that is a big decision, we felt we had no timeline for when we could start racing and the main thing is all our thoughts are with the two guys who have gone off to hospital for further assessment. Let’s hope they are OK.

“In the bigger picture racing is secondary in this situation. A nasty accident has happened, two people are injured. They are having the best care they could have and received immediate attention.”

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said: “We were alerted at 1.35pm on Tuesday, June 29 to an incident at Hamilton Park Racecourse, Hamilton.

“Operations Control mobilised two appliances to the scene and using an aerial rescue pump firefighters rescued two male casualties who had fallen onto the roof of a vehicle before handing them into the care of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“Crews left the scene after ensuring the area was made safe and there were no further reported casualties.”

The Scottish Ambulance Service added: “We received a call at 13.38hrs this afternoon to attend an incident at Hamilton racecourse. Two ambulances and two rapid response vehicles were dispatched to the scene.”

A statement from the British Horseracing Authority read: “Everybody at the BHA is concerned by the reports from Hamilton this afternoon and our thoughts are with the two RaceTech employees who have been injured.

“We wish both a full and speedy recovery.”

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