Stakes Winner, Two Other Horses Die in Accident

• Email
• Print
• Tweet

An accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike June 12 claimed the life of stakes winner Connect and two other horses near Newville in the western part of the state.

The driver, Paul Snatchko, 45, of Lowell, Fla., was traveling westbound in a Dodge pickup with a horse trailer hooked to it. It suddenly began to swerve, left the roadway, and plunged into a 30-foot ditch. The trailer flipped over and, according to the Newville state police barracks, all the horses were dead at the scene. Snatchko was transported to Chambersburg Hospital but was later released with a head injury.

Owned by John R. Rastetter and trained by Philadelphia Park-based Leslie Saunders, Connect, a 4-year-old son of Danzig Connection, had won the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel in 2000 and was second in the Private Terms Stakes. Lifetime, the colt earned $92,336.

Saunders said he was on his way to a farm outside of Pittsburgh for vacation when the accident occurred.

• Email
• Print
• Tweet