Second Female Jockey Dies in Australia From Race Fall
Apprentice jockey Caitlin Forrest was the econd female jockey to die this week in Australia. Carly-Mae Pye, 26, had earlier died on Tuesday from injuries sustained when the horse she was riding broke its front legs during a training run, throwing her head-first into the track.
Apprentice jockey Caitlin Forrest died on Wednesday after a fall at Murray Bridge race course near Adelaide, the second female jockey to die this week in Australia.
Forrest's mount Colla Voce fell, bringing down three other horses, and she was flung to the ground ahead of the trailing pack. Forrest, 19, was airlifted to Royal Adelaide Hospital but died from her injuries.
Carly-Mae Pye, 26, died on Tuesday from injuries sustained when the horse she was riding broke its front legs during a training run, throwing her head-first into the track.
Pye was riding on Monday in a jump-out, which simulates the start of a race in barriers in non-race conditions, at Callaghan Park at Rockhampton in Queensland state.
Australian Racing Board chief executive Peter McGauran said Thursday that authorities will continue to research improved safety equipment, but that racing has become safer in recent years, despite the two deaths this week.
"Tracks have never been safer with plastic running rails... but we still have catastrophic injuries and losses of life," McGauran told a Sydney radio station. "Safety equipment is better than it has ever been but with 500 to 600 kilogram (approximately 1,100 to 1,300 pounds) horses going that fast, the jockeys are always at risk."
A 17-year-old apprentice jockey from Panama, Juan Saez, died in a race fall at a track in the US state of Indiana on Wednesday.