Less than a day after a 67-year-old worker was killed at the Nicosia Hippodrome by a panicked horse, industry insiders are stunned to learn that the very same animal has been cleared to race again next Sunday.<\/p>\n
The tragedy unfolded when the horse, considered the favorite in Sunday\u2019s race, bolted out of control during a pre-race presentation. Witnesses say the animal, known to have a phobia and a history of unpredictable behavior, broke free, charged onto the track and fatally struck the veteran employee who tried to guide it back to the stables.<\/p>\n
the case is already fueling debate over whether the sport prioritizes betting and profits over safety, including the safety of the animals themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about a 350-kilogram horse,\u201d one insider told 24news, describing the moment the animal, blindfolded and in shock, rammed the worker. \u201cThe impact was brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The news has left the racing community reeling, not only because of the sudden loss of a well-respected colleague, but also because officials are allowing the same horse to compete again in just a matter of days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis particular horse has a phobia,\u201d the insider stressed. \u201cWe get permission for him to run. Yesterday they gave permission because he was the favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision has raised eyebrows and sparked outrage. Critics say it\u2019s almost unthinkable that, in the wake of such a fatal accident, the horse is being treated as though nothing happened.<\/p>\n
The Labor Inspectorate has opened an investigation into possible lapses in safety measures. While horse racing accidents are rare in Cyprus, the last fatal incident at the Hippodrome occurred about a decade ago; the case is already fueling debate over whether the sport prioritizes betting and profits over safety, including the safety of the animals themselves.<\/p>\n
For now, the plan is for the horse to race again on October 5, this time without any pre-race parade in front of bettors. But for many, the question hangs in the air: how is it acceptable to put a horse with a known phobia, one that has already taken a man\u2019s life, back on the track so soon?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than a day after a 67-year-old worker was killed at the Nicosia Hippodrome by a panicked horse,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[26913,10521,3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-161018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-accident","9":"tag-cyprus","10":"tag-racing","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}