A RACING FATALITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20283, 16 December 1927, Page 16

A RACING FATALITY.

JOCKEY’S HEAD STRIKES RAIL. VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH. xo Daily '.'imes.) AUCKLAND, December 15. A verdict of accidental death was returned by Mr W. R. M‘Kean, S.M., coro. ner, at the inquest on Robert Hilton Riley, ! aged 24, the jockey who was killed through falling from his mount White Wings in the Rakino Handicap at the Takapuna meeting on November 28. John Heslop, a steward of the club, said that White Wings galloped on the heels of the horse in front of her and stumbled. Then Reilly fell and struck the rail with his head. There was no interference to cause White Wings to get on the heels of the other horse. There was no crowding at the point of the accident, and the course was in perfect order. The accident, which took place about 150 yards from his lookout tower, was clearly under his observation, and there was no blame attachable to any jockey. Questioned by Mr M'Liver, who appeared for the relatives of the deceased, witness said it was true that a number of accidents had happened near the spot where Reilly was thrown. Two horses stumbled there on the day of the fatality, one rider being thrown over the rails, while the other had difficulty in retaining his seat. The Coroner: Was it due to their riding? Witness: Yes. Roth riders admitted that it was their own fault through galloping on the heels of other horses. Do they ride with a short stirrup? Yes; very short. But they are no shorter at Takapuna than anywhere else in New Zealand. Is there any fault in the course at the point where Reilly fell? None whatever. The bend is a wide Coroner: Yes; it seems a good wide curve. _ . . , One jockey was blinded by a flying clod about the same spot, said Mr M'Liver. The sea comes in very close at this point and soaks the ground there when everything else is dry. The spot is damp or moist, with the result that it is never hard. , , The Coroner (to witness): Is the track damp? No. Eye-witnesses said that no blame was attachable to anyone. _ L. M. Manson, who rode Sir Mond m the same race, said the coures was in lovely condition. It could not be better. The turns were all banked and no one could blame the course for the accident. In reviewing the evidence, the Coroner observed that there appeared to be nothing wrong with the course. The fact that accidents happened seemed to be due to jockeys striving for a position as they rounded the bend into the straight. The accidents were due apparently more to the actual manner of riding than to any defect to the ocurse. The evidence did not show that the accident was due to any crowding on the part of the other jockeys or to any fault of the course. It waspossible, as witnesses had said, that White Wings had galloped on the heels of another horse, throwing her rider.