Police in New Zealand arrested a man who stepped onto the track during a race at the Trentham course over the weekend.
The New Zealand Herald reports that he was charged with criminal nuisance.
During the eighth race on Saturday, jockeys were forced to take evasive action when the 24-year-old appeared in front of them in the closing stages.
"You'll have never seen anything quite like this before."
Barely believable scenes from Trentham racecourse in New Zealand yesterday #LuckOnSunday @nickluck @thebedfordfox pic.twitter.com/WzCDsY4vNV— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 31, 2021
"Obviously it was a bit of a shock and I was lucky to miss him to be honest," jockey Jonathan Parkes, who was aboard Boston Strong Boy, told the Racing Post.
"It must have been about 12 strides before I sort of seen him and I was just hoping he would stand still and didn’t move. I had to decide which way I was going and I ended up pulling the right-hand rein and just missed the guy."
Happy to hear that the man who nearly cost human & equine life during r8 at Trentham has been arrested.
The vision below is graphic
It further highlights the highest danger of said man’s actions given the speed & power horses travel at.
“Get offfff, you idiot”, is audible pic.twitter.com/m8CSQYGyHd— Jason Tan (@JSLTan) January 30, 2021
A witness told the New Zealand Herald that the man was with a group of 15 - 20 people. Following his moment of idiocy, he returned to them yelling "I did it, I did it".
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