Ellenborough

Race director Mike Thomas said Mr Lightfoot, a member of Cumbria running club Ellenborough AC, beat the horses "quite comfortably" on Saturday.

The injured marsupial was taken to the Koala hospital in Port Macquarie where his burns were treated, and he was named Ellenborough Lewis after Doherty’s grandchild.

“Today we made the decision to put Ellenborough Lewis to sleep,” it said on Facebook.

“In Ellenborough Lewis’s case, the burns did get worse, and unfortunately would not have gotten better.”

Lawyers representing one of the men, Jordan Munday, 20, of Ellenborough Road, Sidcup, south-east London, said in a statement their client denied any involvement in the chanting and was not facing any criminal charges.