WINDSOR racecourse has vowed to ban for life the ‘muppet’ who launched a plastic beer cup at a horse as he past the post.
Sky Sports Racing cameras picked up the awful moment the cup was aimed at champion jockey William Buick and four-year-old gelding Due To Henry in the final race at the track on Monday night.
The Eve Johnson Houghton-trained horse crossed the line two-and-three-quarters of a length in front of runner-up Royal Blaze.
But her runner’s second career win was overshadowed by the actions of some idiot at the line.
Sun Racing’s Matt Chapman says the culprit must be found and dealt with appropriately to show this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.
He said: “Who threw a pint cup at the winner of the last race at Windsor on Monday night? If you know grass them up.
“I don’t care what state you get into, throwing anything at a horse or jockey in any race is extremely dangerous.
“It could be even life-threatening if it results in a jockey falling off.
“On Monday night many watching Sky Sports Racing saw a cup thrust at William Buick just as he was scoring on Due to Henry in the closing mile and a quarter handicap.
“Windsor officials are doing all they can to find the culprit.
“The excellent clerk of the course Charlie Rees told me: ‘We saw the incident from the side on box at Windsor and our control room also saw it happen on TV.
‘I immediately radioed the security to have a look but due to the bad weather and everyone flooding back inside we couldn’t identify the individual there and then.
‘However, Racetech (who supply pictures) have been very helpful and sent me all of the footage they took of the race and we also have our CCTV footage here on site which we are now investigating to try and find said individual.
‘They will not be welcome back at Windsor Racecourse in the future if we can identify them.'”
“Someone knows who did this. Give them up.”
Trainer Dylan Cunha was among those appalled by the actions of the racegoer. He said: “Shocking behaviour.”
While Chapman’s Sky colleague Tim Carrol posted online: “Ban the muppet for life.”
And another fuming punter said: “Identify and ban from all racecourses from life.”
Sadly, awful scenes such as this are nothing new on British and Irish racecourses.
A similar incident occurred at Yarmouth two years ago while another racegoer threw a pint at Grand National legend Davy Russell as he crossed the line at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day 2002.
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