Australian Apprentice Jockey Dies After Fall

Australian apprentice jockey Caitlin Forrest died Oct. 15 after a fall at Murray Bridge race course near Adelaide, the second female jockey to die in recent days.



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 a day earlier 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 Oct. 13 in a jump-out, which simulates the start of a race from the gate in non-race conditions, at Callaghan Park at Rockhampton in Queensland state.



Australian Racing Board chief executive Peter McGauran said 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 American apprentice, Juan Saez, also died in a race fall at an Indiana track Oct. 15.