Jockey mistakes 15-foot python for 'big crack' on horse racetrack
CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA (FOX NEWS) - A jockey and his horse were (literally) stopped in their tracks this week. Masayuki Abe was rounding the corner on his horse at Cannon Park Racecourse in Cairns, Australia, around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday when he spotted what looked like a "big crack on the ground."
A gateman yelled, "Be careful there is a big..."
Abe couldn't make out the end of the man's sentence, so he continued galloping toward the sand track. On his last lap, he discovered why he was being warned: the dark shadow he was seeing was actually a giant carpet python, slithering across the track.
"I didn't think it was a snake because I've just never seen that big one before," Abe told Fox News. "In two seconds, I realized that was what the gateman was yelling to me and I was so scared after that."