Yarmouth runaway suffers no serious damage

Cuts and bruises for errant gelding.

Owner Phil Cunningham reports Jean Valjean to have suffered only superficial injuries after his eventful afternoon at Yarmouth on Tuesday.

The Richard Spencer-trained gelding bolted going down to the start under Sean Kirrane, who managed to take evasive action and jump off the three-year-old before he crashed through the rails.

Jean Valjean, meanwhile, went on to the golf course and while for a fleeting moment he looked like he might be caught, he soon disappeared out of view, followed by a posse of officials and groundstaff.

He was ultimately caught and walked back to the track.

“It was very strange as he’s never done anything like that before. I’m heading to the yard to see him and I’ve heard he’s got a couple of little cuts and bruises and other than that, he was fine,” said Cunningham, who runs the Six Amigos partnership which owns Jean Valjean.

“It took a while to catch him. I’m not 100 per cent sure of his route because I was watching on my mobile on my way to Spurs.

“It looked to me like he enjoyed nine holes and went for a stroll on the beach! He’s in the sales next week, but it’s so strange as he’s never hinted at anything like.

“Luckily nobody got hurt, Sean jumped off just in time. My son was following on social media and said it was the most publicity we’d ever had!”

Cunningham also created a bit of a stir earlier this year by naming a two-year-old after heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury.

The Iffraaj colt holds a Derby entry, but will not be running until next year.

“We’re going to keep him until next year. He’s developing nicely. He’s a big horse and we like him a lot, but at this stage the Derby dream is still alive,” said Cunningham.

“He’s probably the most photographed horse in the yard. We met Tyson through a mutual friend and got permission to use the name.

“Then, for his fight before his last one (Tom Schwarz) I was in Las Vegas and Tyson remembered us and was asking about about the horse. He’s a super lad, he was asking if we were on track for Epsom.

“If we can get him to Epsom, I’m sure Tyson would try to get there and I don’t think there’ll be another horse’s name on the gypsy well!”

Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.

Latest