AP McCoy leads emotional tributes for Sir Erec after tragic death at Cheltenham Festival

Sir Erec got into trouble over one of the final the fences during the first race of Gold Cup day at the Cheltenham Festival.

He snapped his leg and was tragically put down moments after the race.

AP McCoy, speaking on ITV, led the tributes, saying: "I'm absolutely heartbroken for Sir Erec. That is the toughest thing about this sport."

Nicky Henderson, trainer of winning horse Pentland Hills said: "What a gorgeous horse Sir Erec was. Your heart goes out to them. We're all a family and JP is a big part of our team.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: SIR EREC SNAPS LEG BEFORE BEING PUT DOWN

“He's one of the great men of national hunt racing. That was not fair at all."

Winning jockey Nico de Boinville: "You never like to win a race when that has happened but it is the reality of the sport.

"Thoughts are with Sir Erec's connections.

"But take nothing away from my horse. He made a bad error at the first where he over-jumped it and recovered well after that."

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David Sykes, director of Equine Health and Welfare at the British Horseracing Authority, spoke to ITV Racing following the fatal injury to Sir Erec.

"There was no reason we could have predicted that injury," he said.

"Beforehand, when he was checked, the vets reported he moved well and had no indication of lameness or injuries.

"We are never going to stop those sort of catastrophic injuries."

And he also claimed the show resizing had no influence on the horse colliding with the fence.

"They were two separate incidents," he said.

"Putting a shoe on the horse wouldn't cause that sort of injury.

"All the guards and checks we have in place can identify injuries but we can still have what happened today.

"That sort of fracture is unable to be fixed - 500kg of horse cannot stand on three legs.

"It is a catastrophic injury."