Derby day was marred for spectators at Epsom on Saturday when a horse collapsed and died a few yards from the winning post in an earlier race.

Tears Of A Clown, a three-year-old filly trained by Henry Candy and ridden by Trevor Whelan, had dropped out of contention in the Betfred Three-year-old ‘Dash’ over five furlongs but collapsed 50 yards from the line having appeared to have suffered a haemorrhage.

Whelan was seen tending to Tears Of A Clown immediately after she collapsed, before veterinary staff joined him and quickly began treatment. The horse died almost instantly but the jockey was unscathed.

The incident happened in front of Epsom’s packed grandstands on the venue’s biggest day of the year. The filly was quickly attended by racecourse vets and surrounded by screens but they were unable to save her.

A spokesperson for Epsom Downs Racecourse said: “Tears of A Clown was immediately attended by expert veterinary professionals after the fourth race but sadly passed away. Our heartfelt condolences are with all her connections.”

Fatal injuries on the Flat are not unknown but are not very common. In 2023 there were 46 fatal injuries from 10,142 individual horses running 57,672 times which equates to a 0.08 per cent fatal injury rate which is the same as the five-year rolling rate for the Flat.

Work by the Horse Welfare Board, which was set up before Covid and works independently of the British Horseracing Authority, is having a positive impact on injury rates on both Flat and jump racing but the sport is always striving for further improvement.

All the runners at Epsom on Friday and Saturday had to pass a soundness check when trotted up by BHA veterinary officers when they arrived at the racecourse stables prior to running. That monitoring by vets continues in the paddock and at the start. While that screens out potential lameness issues, it is, of course, impossible to spot an internal weakness in a horse at the moment, just as it is a human, which drops dead after exercise.