Horseracing: Top trainer dies in plane crash

Leading Australian trainer Peter Hayes has died in a plane crash, according to reports.

Hayes, 52, was a passenger on board the Lancair kit-built plane when it plunged to the ground near Mildura, Victoria, killing him and the pilot.

A member of staff at the Hayes family's Lindsay Park Stud at Angaston in South Australia's Barossa Valley confirmed the trainer's death in the crash.

Hayes had been the leading trainer in Victoria and South Australia for three of the past five years.

In all he trained 13 Group One winners, his greatest victory coming through Blackfriars in the 1999 Victoria Derby.

The Hayes family has long dominated racing in the southern states of Australia, his father Colin training a total of 95 Group One winners.

Hayes' younger brother David is one of the leading trainers in Hong Kong.