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A steward was taken to hospital with head injuries after being kicked by a horse in a freak accident at Royal Ascot.
The man was left unconscious after the horror incident ahead of the second race on the opening day, attended by the King and Queen.
Shocked onlookers screamed as the two-year-old horse kicked out its back legs as it walked around the pre-parade ring. The ring is adjacent to the main Parade Ring and is where the horses are saddled up and led around before each race. It is not believed any member of the royal family witnessed the emergency, which took place shortly before 3pm on Tuesday.
The injured steward, who was working at Ascot via an agency, was manning the stairs to the owners and trainers’ restaurant at the time.
One shocked eyewitness said: “We were so worried for his life. The horse kicked him in the head. They put up a screen around him while paramedics attempted to revive him.”
Sources confirmed he “was unconscious for a period” but is now in a London hospital and “expected to make a full recovery”.
A Royal Ascot spokesman said: “A member of the stewarding team was kicked in the pre-parade ring prior to the second race on Tuesday. He was taken to hospital for assessment and remains under further care.”
The incident had gone unnoticed by most in the crowd on a day which saw Paddington win the St James’s Palace Stakes to give trainer Aidan O’Brien a record 83rd victory.
The Irish 2,000 Guineas winner under Ryan Moore beat Frankie Dettori’s English Guineas victor Chaldean. Dettori was later given a nine-day ban for careless riding when finishing fifth on the King’s horse Saga.
It is the first Royal Ascot since the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September.