A horse unseated its rider during the final race at Musselburgh then carried on running out of the racecourse — and through a nearby Scottish town.

Rufio emerged as the equine version of Forrest Gump as he left the track and ended up striding through the streets of Prestonpans, a small town to the east of Edinburgh, while still wearing his saddle and race number seven on his back.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” Musselburgh’s clerk of the course, Rory Innes, said. “The jockey was unseated and the horse did a full circuit and escaped through the exterior permanent railing.

“The ground staff and everybody went off after the horse and he was caught by a member of the public. He stopped at some traffic