The 2014 Laytown Races ‘Incident’

This video is going viral on Facebook today — Kristen Kovatch explains the story behind it.

In case you haven’t seen this video yet, check it out:

Don’t worry — all parties involved were just fine, and the horse, Arbitrageur, finished seventh in his race. (Props to jockey JJ King for his intuitive handling of what could have been a tragic situation, and bonus points for that trotting/cantering leaping remount.)

But wait a second… are they on the beach?

Why yes, yes they are. The 2014 Laytown Races took place today on the beach at Laytown, County Meath, Ireland. This historic race meeting has been taking place annually since 1868. Laytown is now one of the only beach racing taking place under the official rules of racing in Europe, drawing thousands of spectators from all over the world. Putting together a day of beach racing is no easy feat, as a committee of experienced horsemen have to daily scout out ever-changing sections of beach in the weeks leading up to the meet to make sure they’ve found the best and flattest section to use. The races run straight over six or seven furlongs down the selected area of beach, and an elevated area called the “race field” is transformed into a park for spectators with all of the normal concessions of a permanent track. It’s amazing to think that for the other 364 days of the year, there is no Laytown race track at all.

Go riding!

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