I’ve been in the Grandstand and at the rail for a lot of races at Saratoga Race Course—and one thing I’ve never seen is a runaway racehorse. Sure, sometimes horses have a tough time being loaded into the gate before a race—or throw their riders and are quickly corralled during one—but one that gets loose sans jockey? Never.
That’s exactly what happened following a seven-plus furlong race (just under a mile) at Chepstow Racecourse in Monmouthshire, Wales, on May 23. Just a single furlong in, and one of the horses in a 12-horse field, Give Em A Clump, threw his rider and then made a run for it. With some split-second thinking, Hayley Moore, a reporter for the British horse-racing TV channel, At The Races, stood her ground in front of the charging horse, grabbed his reins in mid stride and brought him to an incredible halt. All on live TV. (You can actually see her earpiece/microphone cable hanging from the back of her dress, as she gets up and unbelievably, seems completely fine, with the wherewithal to pat the horse on the side and take off his saddle.)
Moore’s no amateur in the horse business; her father is a famous horse trainer and her brother is thought to be one of the top jockeys in the world, per At The Races. Moore’s also ridden horses herself.
After the amazing feat, Moore said, “Give Em A Clump…I just couldn’t bear to see him go out on another lap, so I thought I’d go for it.” Watch the amazing video below.
