THIS is the shocking moment a jockey is hit in the head by a flying pole after a horse crashed into the railings at Punchestown Festival.

Haggard was forced into the barriers during the chaotic 2.30pm on Tuesday.

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The horse was forced off the track as Fralmonti Bilbery was trying to gain ground.

However, it collided with the railings and dislodged three sections, which caused it to interfere with the racers.

Haggard's jockey Rob James tried to dodge the obstacles but was hit on the head.

Jones managed to stay on the horse while other jockeys had to take evasive action to avoid the railings.

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Following the incident both Haggard and Fralimonti Bilbery, whose jockey Jack Hendrick was also caught up in the mayhem, were pulled up.

Commentators on Racing TV tried to explain the chaos with one saying: "It's Fralimonti Bilbery who looks like he's trying to get a run up the inside of Haggard here.

"They're crossing a road, the rail gets dislodged. I don't know, is it by one of the runners up ahead?

"It's very, very hard to tell from this angle. But would you look at that?"

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It appeared that both horses were unharmed.

This could have been helped by the Punchestown railings being made of white plastic.

They are slotted into each other instead of glued, which means they are safer and collapse more easily in case of these incidents.

Fans reacted to the shocking moment on social media.

One posted: "Amazed everyone stayed on!"

A second wrote: "Jesus that’s horrible to see lucky someone wasn’t seriously hurt."

A third commented: "Carnage."

A fourth said: "That could of been a lot worse than what it was, thankfully looks as though all jockeys and horses walked away unscathed."

Another added: "That was very eventful, lucky no one got hurt."

The 22/1 shot Transprint went on to win the race with Turnedupdevolume finishing second and Kockiel Synge in third.

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Meanwhile, Punchestown has already seen some surprising moments.

This includes 18-1 shot Irancy winning the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle.