THE TWO horses killed in bizarre, and as yet unexplained circumstances at Newbury races on Saturday, were trained at Temple Guiting in Gloucestershire and Broad Hinton in Wiltshire.

The runners were being mounted by their jockeys before the first race when both Fenix Two, from Jonjo O’Neill’s yard, and Marching Song, from Turnell’s stables, collapsed within seconds of one another in the same area of the paddock and died.

Although the race went ahead, the Newbury racing authorities abandoned the remainder of the meeting.

Speculation from the connections of the stricken horses was that they may have suffered from some form of electric shock.

Another horse, Kid Cassidy, also briefly collapsed although he was ridden to the start before being withdrawn from the race. A fourth runner, The Merry Giant, also seemed affected but was allowed to race only to finish tailed off.

Turnell, trainer of Marching Song, and Graham Thorner, a part-owner of the horse, were particularly upset. “It looks like they've been electrocuted,” said Turnell.

“My fellow seemed perfectly all right and I was about to leg him up but he just went straight down.”

Thorner said: “To a layman with no evidence, you would say it was electrical. The lad who was with him was saying ‘I’m getting an electric shock off this horse’.

“It can’t be coincidence that four horses have done the same thing and two have died, all in the same area. Three people said they were getting a shock off the horse. I hope we find out what it was but it doesn’t bring the horses back.”

O'Neill said: “Mine reared up, fell, and we couldn’t get him back up. It was like he was stuck to the ground. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The dead horses were taken away for post-mortem examination, while representatives of Southern Electric arrived to examine cabling underneath the Newbury paddock.

Racegoers will be given a 100 per cent refund while the British Horseracing Authority are likely to meet on Monday to decide whether the big races, including the totesport Trophy Hurdle and Aon Chase, are to be rescheduled.

A full stewards’ inquiry was held following the incident, after which Newbury joint managing director Stephen Higgins said: “Having suffered two unexplained equine fatalities in the parade ring, for equine and human safety reasons, we took the decision to abandon racing today until the cause could be established.

“Newbury Racecourse extends its condolences to the connections of Fenix Two and Marching Song.”