Racing: Flag ban likely in wake of tragic spooking incident

Araldo (left) ridden by Dwayne Dunn is tangled in the fence after being spooked by a flag, the horse was later put down due to the injury suffered. Photo / AAP

Racegoers could be banned from having flags at Victorian race meetings in the wake of Melbourne Cup runner Araldo's death.

It has been reported a flag-waving Cup-day reveller spooked Araldo, catching jockey Dwayne Dunn off-guard as he tried to keep control of his mount.

But the Mike Moroney-trained Araldo kicked out and fractured a pastern bone in a hind leg on a fence as he returned to scale following his lion-hearted seventh in the Melbourne Cup which collected A$125,000 for his owners.

The handsome entire was taken to a leading veterinary clinic but vets could do nothing to save the imported stayer.

"It was a freak accident. They run the Melbourne Cup for 154 years and nothing like that has happened," Moroney said.

Racing officials seem certain to recommend the banning of flags from racetracks while implementing a new procedure for horses returning to scale when they meet to discuss the fallout from Tuesday's meeting.

"It's early days but we just want to keep the risks at a minimum," chief steward Terry Bailey said.

"One of the options is that the horses come back on the outside of the course proper, come back in via the clock tower which removes them just that bit further from the crowd."

The deaths of Araldo and Admire Rakti have marred the four-length win of Protectionist in Australia's greatest race.

An autopsy on Melbourne Cup favourite Admire Rakti has revealed the Japanese stayer died of heart failure.

"[The horse's death] is caused by a large heart mass, a really rapid heart rate that set up an irregular rhythm that didn't deliver enough blood to the body," Racing Victoria vet Dr Brian Stewart said.

Dr Stewart said a defibrillator could have saved Admire Rakti.

"We don't have equine defibrillators because the condition is so rare and the horse is such a large animal," he said. "That would have been the treatment of choice if it had been done very quickly, but defibrillators, we will review.

"Whether it is practical, I don't know."

Cup deaths
• Araldo spooked by flag
• Admire Rakti dies of heart failure
• Defibrillator option under review