Kody Nestor and Daniel Northey both had mounts in the Narromine Newsagency Benchmark Handicap (1300 metres), which ended in tragedy.

With just 600m left to run, Northey’s mount Columkille lost his footing and fell, with Nestor’s mount, Lord Burghesh, unable to get out of the way.

Both riders were flung from their horses, with Nestor thrown so high into the air he said he could nearly see his house.

Nestor walked away from the incident while Northey was taken to Dubbo Hospital with a concussion and a possible hip injury.

Nestor said he was feeling okay on Tuesday, and had only suffered “a few bumps and bruises here and there”. Northey was also recovering well.

Columkille came out of the incident relatively unscathed, Nestor said.

But Lord Burghesh, trained at Wellington by Karen McCarroll, had to be destroyed.

“It was a very sad day,” McCarroll said.

“It’s my understanding that Daniel Northey’s mount clipped the heels of the horse in front of him and fell down and my horse couldn’t get out of the way and ran over the top.

“He was one of the nicest horses you could want, he was lovely, easy-going.”

It was Lord Burghesh’s second race back following a 43 week spell, after he suffered a cut to his leg early in the year.

McCarroll nursed him back to full strength to get him back out onto the track.

The nine-year-old grey had a strong racing record, with Nestor himself guiding Lord Burghesh to five career wins and another two placings since 2012.

He had also enjoyed victory with Greg Ryan and earned placings under 11 different jockeys.

“I won a few races on him so he was a pretty good little horse to me,” Nestor said.

“Karen was pretty upset. They become part of the household life when you deal with them day in, day out.

“It’s a sad thing … but unfortunately it’s part of the racing game.”

“He was a nice horse, a member of the family,” McCarroll said.

“It was just a tragic accident.

“I’m just pleased that the two jockeys walked away from it.”

The race went on to be won by the Darren Hyde-trained Handful of Aces (Andrew Banks, $17), with Love None (Shaun Guymer $5.00) running in a length behind.

It was a tight contest for third place, with Eagles Dare (Mathew Cahill, $4.00 favourite) edging out Cowboys Karma (Daniel Pitomac, $12) and Underground Blues (Anthony Cavallo, $12) by mere inches.