Two horses die following stable fire

Two horses died after a fire broke out at leading Irish trainer Pat Hughes’s stables near Bagenalstown in Co Carlow.

A hay barn was gutted in the blaze on Saturday lunchtime and more than 40 horses had to be evacuated and were turned into a field but two – Billy The Snake and an unnamed gelding by Broken Hearted – were injured in the panic and had to be put down.

“The staff did a great job to try and contain the outbreak. There was a high wind which fanned the flames and they had to evacuate all the horses into a field but unfortunately two of them were injured and had to be put down,” said Hughes on Sunday.

“It could have been a disaster but in the circumstances we were probably lucky that we just lost two.”

The fire raged for about three hours before it was finally extinguished.