Racing united over jockey tragedy

Racing was united in mourning yesterday after the death of conditional rider Tom Halliday following a fall at Market Rasen on Sunday.

A minute’s silence was held at each of the day’s four meetings to remember the 20-year-old, who suffered fatal injuries in a hurdle race at the Lincolnshire venue.

British Horseracing Board chief executive Greg Nichols summed up the feelings of the industry.

He said: “The awful events of Sunday bring home the risks that jockeys take every day, but that does not make the death of a highly-regarded young man at the start of his career any less shocking.

“Whatever loss we feel as a sport is nothing compared to the loss for his family and friends, and our hearts go out to them.

“The Jockey Club has announced that there will be a full investigation, and we will play a role as appropriate.”

The 10lb-claiming jockey, who was attached to Sue Smith’s yard at Bingley in Yorkshire, was aboard the trainer’s Rush’N’Run when the six-year-old fell three out in the Bet With Don Novices’ Handicap Hurdle.

Halliday was attended to by the racecourse doctor and two paramedics before being taken by ambulance to Lincoln County Hospital, where a spokesman later confirmed he had died from his injuries.

The young man had been involved with the yard run by Mrs Smith and her husband, former showjumping legend Harvey, for a number of years, working as a stable hand as a teenager before becoming a jockey.

“It can be a dangerous sport. Horses go quickly and jockeys fall,” Mrs Smith told the Bradford Telegraph & Argus.

“I saw it happen from the other side of the course but I didn’t know Tom had died until his family called me.

“I’m absolutely devastated and my heart goes out to his family. We have known them a long time.

"This is a tragedy.

“He was an intelligent, hard-working lad. Working with horses was all he ever wanted to do since leaving school. When he was out there on the course he just wanted to win.

“My thoughts are with Tom’s family.”