Jump racing at Southwell Racecourse has been suspended until further notice after two more horses died at Thursday’s fixture.

There had previously been six equine fatalities in a month at the Nottinghamshire track.

Racing returned at the course in July after action was halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, Cillians Well was fatally injured after falling four fences from home in the opening race, while Day Of Roses died after falling in the subsequent handicap chase.

BHA chief regulatory officer Brant Dunshea said the course was inspected and deemed fit for racing before Thursday’s meeting and pre-race checks were carried out on all runners by vets.

“In the sad event of two further fatalities, we have jointly decided with ARC to suspend jump racing at Southwell until further notice whilst we work together to complete a detailed investigation,” he added.

The racecourse, BHA vets and course inspectors will look into the fatalities to see if there are any common factors, with considerations including:

• Any history of injury, veterinary treatment, or medication
• Race history, number and detail of previous starts, interval between previous starts
• Race conditions such as handicap rating, age, class of race
• Course factors such as ground and obstacles

Fatality figures in British racing have decreased to an all-time low.

However, ongoing efforts to improve the safety of racing include developing a predictive risk model for all jump racing.

In 2019 there were 173 fatal injuries from 91,937 runners in Britain – a rate of 0.19%, the lowest five-year rolling average on record.

This was a reduction from the previous year, when the rate of fatal injuries was 0.22% of runners.

For jump racing alone, the fatality rate is higher, at 0.39% of runners.

National Hunt racing resumed at Southwell on 1 July, and there were no fatalities at that meeting and those on 14 and 19 July. On 30 July, Elysian Prince was fatally injured in a fall in the first race.

On 10 August, Croco Bay died after unseating his rider during a handicap chase, and in the next race debutant Lost On You was pulled up and suffered a fatal injury.

On 24 August, three horses – Swarez, Avarchie and Booyakasha – died following on-course injuries.