The trainer of a runner at Musselburgh who escaped from the track Dec. 9 and then roamed the streets of the Scottish town said his horse was none the worse for the experience.
Rufio was contesting the closing two-mile and 7 1/2-furlong handicap chase for Gary Rutherford before unseating his amateur rider, Lucy Brown, at the fourth fence.
The 100-1 shot completed another circuit of the course before exiting the track and heading for the town center, with images of the 10-year-old galloping down a street past parked cars shared on social media.
🚨 BREAKING: Rufio unseated his rider @MusselburghRace today and escaped two-miles into town.
— Stephen R Power (@racingblogger) December 9, 2024
Luckily, he wasn't hurt and returned to the track unscathed thankfully. 🤯
A very fortunate ending to this incident. pic.twitter.com/8BhDNT1oOo
Rufio was finally caught by a member of the public after stopping at traffic lights.
Musselburgh's clerk of the course, Rory Innes, said Dec. 10: "It was an unfortunate incident. The jockey was unseated and the horse did a full circuit and escaped through the exterior permanent railing.
"The ground staff and everybody went off after the horse and he was caught by a member of the public. He stopped at some traffic lights.
"We sent the horse ambulance to bring him back, got him checked over and he was absolutely fine, as was the jockey."
Rutherford said Rufio was safe and well back at his yard in Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, the trainer said: "Rufio is all good this morning. It's just one of those things. I wasn't actually there, I was at Newcastle as we had a runner down there. There'll be other days."
