Fayr Jag suffers fatal injury in Pontefract starting stalls accident
Group 1-winning racehorse Fayr Jag suffered a fatal injury in a starting stalls accident before the start of the 3.10pm race at Pontefract racecourse yesterday (Monday 21 April).
The nine-year-old gelding was blindfolded and being led into the stalls when he suddenly tried to back out, before lunging violently forwards. He crashed into the iron bars of the stalls breaking his shoulder.
His jockey, David Allan, was thrown over his head into the stalls but was unhurt.
The Tim Easterby-trained Fayr Jag won 11 races in a career that included two Group 3 wins and a career highlight Group 1 success in the 2004 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.