JOCKEY'S DEATH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 1 December 1927, Page 5

JOCKEY'S DEATH

AUCKLAND’S/ 1 TOLL (By Telegraph—Special to “The Mail”) AUCKLAND, This Day. “The modern boy. rides with too short a stirrup. Of this I am- absolutely certain as I can speak as an old horseman,” said the Rev. Jasper Calder yesterday when conducting a service at the graveside 'of thej late R, H. Reilly, the jockey was accidentally killed at Takapuna on .Monday. Mr Calder said that during the last four or- five years the, deaths of four jockeys had occurred in Auckland and another fatality had now been added to the toll.

“The percentage is too great- and we should not allow it to go on if it is within our power to stop it,” he said. The use of the short stirrup, particularly in Uvo-year-old races, did not give the rider proper control over his mount and he considered that hoys should be encouraged to ride with 'the leathers Jet out for at least four or five holes.

In appealing for the support of racing bodies and public opinion in ’encouraging such steps that would tend to reduce risk of life, Mr Calder said that fatalities should not he allowed lo continue without a protest. The lives of jockeys should he considered*above all tilings in racing.