Justin Snaith’s three horses killed

They were returning home after a winter campaign in Durban.

The groom’s full name has been withheld until the next of kin have been informed. He worked for the transport company, New Turf Carriers, for a couple of months, according to the company’s owner Matthew Sham.

The horses were Nancy and Jack Mitchell’s classy two-year-old Aspen (“Jack’s favourite horse”) and talented four-year-olds Unencumbered, owned by Markus and Ingrid Jooste, as well as Messrs S Englezakis & L K Kirsten’s Casual Var. Three horses were uninjured, November Rain, Delaware Park and Cape Cutter, and got back to Snaith’s private training establishment in Cape Town safely after their horrific experience.

Snaith, who is finally realising his ambition to win the national trainers’ title after 14th years, said: “This championship title has come at a huge cost.

“You have to be very thick-skinned to survive in this game. No-one messes with my horses – they’ve got to come through me. But there was nothing I could do for them this time. I’d been nurturing them their whole careers. They were very special, loving horses.”