A girl of 11 and a 50-year-old father of five who were watching horse races at Ħal Far were critically injured after a pony bolted free from its sulky and galloped into the crowd.

It’s a jungle out there. Since March, these races have been taking place every two weeks

The man, from Ħamrun, and the girl were buying food from a kiosk at 9.30pm on Friday.

Police said the jockey, a 32-year-old from Qormi, and two other spectators were slightly injured alongside the quarter-mile racetrack used by dragsters.

A witness, who was drawn to the area by the commotion, said he saw the jockeys scurrying away with their horses and some 300 cars fleeing the scene soon after.

“I overheard a policeman question a man about permits... I couldn’t understand why everybody was dashing off instead of trying to help. It looked like something out of the movie Fast and Furious,” the witness told The Sunday Times of Malta.

When contacted, the organiser of the pony races, Pierre Cuschieri, was angry that questions were being raised about the event’s legality but would not confirm if he had the permits in hand.

“I’m not going to give you any information,” he said in between a vitriol of verbal abuse.

The Malta Racing Club said it had not been involved in organising this event and the only horse street racing it was entrusted with were the traditional Mnarja races.

The place where the races took place is privately run by the Malta Drag Racing Association and president Paul Pace said this was the first time any horse races were held there – all the permits were in hand.

When this newspaper asked to see the permits, Mr Pace said these had been handed over to the police investigating the case. Until yesterday evening, however, the police media office was not in a position to confirm this.

Sources close to the horse-racing circle expressed disappointment that races on the island’s roads were happening with increasing frequency after police had spent years trying to eradicate them.

The policy of police in the past was to refuse permits for these events due to health and safety considerations. However, the final say rests with the local council and if somebody issues a permit under the Local Councils Act, police have to give their confirmation, the sources explained.

Unlike the races that take place in Marsa, which adhere to strict international regulations, these street races had few rules with nobody seeing if, for example, the ponies were being excessively whipped, or if jockeys were wearing a protective vest.

“It’s a jungle out there. Since March, these races have been taking place every two weeks. They’re riskier and more adventurous,” the sources said, adding that some 50 races would take place at any one event.

For the past three years, Transport Malta, the sources said, had been formulating laws that would restrict the access horses had on the streets. However, these still had to be finalised.

Familiar with the racetrack in Ħal Far, the sources said that unlike Marsa this was not designed in a way to ensure that the horses which would have just completed a race did not have to go back up to the starting point against oncoming ‘traffic’.

“The pony was probably startled by something.

“Incidents will happen anywhere, but horse racing is a sport that needs to remain regulated in its proper environment to reduce the risk of injuries.”

Police are investigating.