Two Grand National horses ‘assessed by vets on course’ after nasty fall

Broadway Boy and Celebre D’Allen required immediate treatment on the racecourse at Aintree after both horses failed to make the finish during Saturday’s Grand National.

Nick Rockett, a 33-1 outsider, held off competition from the well-fancied favourite, I Am Maximus, to win the race.

However, concern immediately turned to Broadway Boy and Celebre D’Allen, who were unable to make it to the finish line.

Broadway Boy suffered a nasty fall on his neck at Valentine’s Brook, a 5ft high, 7ft wide fence with a 5ft 6in brook on the landing side.

Celebre D’Allen was pulled up after jumping the last fence but then collapsed, and jockey Micheal Nolan has been given a 10-day suspension after a stewards’ inquiry ruled that he should have withdrawn the 13-year-old horse sooner.

The following race at 5pm – the Rosconn Group Maghull Novices’ Chase – was delayed while the two horses were treated.

After receiving treatment, both Broadway Boy and Celebre D’Allen were able to walk into a horse ambulance. They will now return to their stables for further assessment.

Meanwhile, Tom Bellamy, the jockey of Broadway Boy, has been taken to hospital.

In a statement read out on ITV shortly after the Grand National had finished, presenter Ed Chamberlin said: ‘Jockey’s all absolutely okay.

‘Broadway Boy and Celebre D’Allen are being assessed on course by expert veterinary teams. Further updates will follow in due course.’

Providing a further update before the end of ITV’s broadcast, Chamberlin added: ‘Both horses are being treated at the minute. I don’t think we’ll be able to update more than that before we go off air.’

Racing TV presenter Nick Luck issued a separate update: ‘At the moment there are two horses being assessed by the veterinary team – one is Broadway boy who took that very heavy fall at Valentine’s Brook on the second circuit under Tom Bellamy.

‘The other horse is Celebre D’Allen. Celebre D’Allen has had a lot of experience around these fences at shorter distances. He’s a horse who made a big move into the heat of the race and then clambered over the second-to-last fence and was pulled up before the final fence. He’s also receiving veterinary attention.

‘We’re hearing he [Celebre D’Allen] has just walked into the horse ambulance. We also are led to believe by the team here at Aintree that the stewards are an inquiry into the riding of Celebre D’Allen.

‘Clearly when you’ve got a race that was run at a searching gallop, in relative heat for the time of year, it’s absolutely imperative, and jockey’s are told that if your horse has given all that horse can give, you must pull up, and that’s what they’ll be assessing now, whether the horse should and could have been pulled up before he was.’

Racing TV analyst Martin Dixon added: ‘I think it’s absolutely right they have that inquiry, isn’t it. They’ve got to look into that.

‘There’s no question that at the point he pulled up he was a tired horse, wasn’t he.

‘Fingers crossed he is okay, he’s obviously walked into the horse ambulance, so that’s a semi-positive sign.’

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