TRAGEDY BEFELL a horse trainer this week after 17 of his horses managed to escape his field. Two of the horses met oncoming traffic in Dublin and had to be put down on humane grounds on Tuesday.
The other 15 horses were safely escorted back to the yard in Naul, County Dublin.
According to horse racing outlet, The Racing Post, dashcam footage was obtained that showed the animals heading towards the busy traffic in single file.
Nobody at the time was injured.
Speaking to The Racing Post James McCauley spoke about the incident.
Trainer James McAuley has been left distraught after two horses died when 17 broke loose from a field
Read more here 👇— Racing Post (@RacingPost) May 25, 2022
'It was a nightmare and I have no idea why it happened. Horses always go out to the field here and we always pride ourselves on being able to let them out', McCauley told the paper
"The same horses have always gone out before but something set them off, we don't know what. They broke through a gate out onto the road and after that it was a bit of a disaster.
"We had 17 horses get loose and 17 came back, but we had to put the two to sleep on humane grounds. There was no damage to cars or anything. How there wasn't I have no idea."
"The horses that had to be put down were named as Godhead and Da Vinci.
McAuley also thanked his lucky stars that the damage didn't cost more lives.
"It could have been miles, miles worse – you could have been knocking on someone's door to offer condolences," added McAuley.
"In 20 years we have never had an issue with a horse on the road. Something must have set them off and that's the result of it."