Horse riding is, for many people, a sport that they can involve themselves in. Whether that is via attending races, placing a bet on them, or anything else, it offers entertainment. There is also a darker side to the sport, though. As is the case with many sporting events, there have been tragedies in history.
Some you may be aware of, and others may be less familiar. Yet it remains the case that the sport has experienced its fair share incidents. These have led to one or more deaths occurring in many instances. We’re not only talking about the horses in this case, either.
It is because of this that we wanted to look at some of the incidents in the past that have become tragedies. If you want to become more familiar with them, you’re in the right place. Horse racing and riding is generally safe and secure, for the most part. Even so, there are occasions when the health and safety of people aren’t guaranteed. Whether down to human error or intent, equine issues or anything else, tragedies unfold. Join us to find out more about the biggest episodes to have affected the industry.
Emily Davison
In the early 20th century, the United Kingdom saw an upsurge in women standing up for their rights. Suffragettes took to the streets, demanding to receive the right to vote in the UK. Emily Davison was a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was a militant fighter for the cause, going on hunger strike on seven occasions. Davison ended up being force-fed in 49 separate instances. Not only that, but the authorities arrested her nine times, too.
A staunch feminist and activist, she utilised various tactics to gain attention. This included breaking windows, throwing stones, setting post-boxes alight, and more. She even planted bombs and hid overnight in the Palace of Westminster.
The suffragette movement may have been something Emmeline Pankhurt organised. Yet it was Davison who took severe action. On June 4, 1913, she got her hands on two flags bearing suffragette colours. From Epsom in Surrey, she travelled to attend the Derby. Whilst there, she positioned herself in the infield at Tattenham Corner. That marks the final bend before the home straight. With some of the horses having passed her position, she ran under the guardrail and onto the course. At that moment, she reached up to the reins of King George V’s horse, Anmer, ridden by Herbert Jones.
The horse collided with Davison at around 35 miles per hour. Anmer fell in the collision, rolling over the jockey’s foot in the process. Davison herself ended up knocked unconscious. Bystanders flooded onto the course to aid both Davison and the fallen Jones. Surgeons operated on her two days after the collision. She never regained consciousness, though. Whilst in hospital, she received hate mail. Davison died on June 8 at the age of 40 from a fracture at the base of her skull.
Contemporary news media were not kind towards Davison. Many publications actually questioned her sanity, labelling her actions as suicidal. Even Queen Mary, wife of King George V, labelled her as a “horrid woman” in her journal. The WSPU, of course, described Davison as a martyr to the cause. Five thousand women formed a procession at her funeral. Hundreds of male supporters followed on behind. Emmeline Pankhurst also planned to be part of the procession. Yet she found herself arrested on that very morning for her own suffragette actions.
Christopher Reeve
Most people know Christopher Reeve as the actor who portrayed Superman on the big screen. His role as the superhero is one that many people still love today. While he made many other films in his career, Superman is the one people remember him for. In the late 1980s, Reeve became a lot more active in life. He had started taking horse rising lessons, training five to six days a week for competitions. He also built a sailboat, which he named The Sea Angel. Aboard this, he sailed from Chesapeake to Nova Scotia.
In 1995, he was to play the lead role in an adventure-drama film entitled Kidnapped. Instead, that starring role went to Armand Assante. Reeve was also planning on directing his first big-screen film in the same year – Tell Me True. Yet the Kidnapped role and romantic comedy were never able to come to light. Reeve suffered a devastating horse-riding accident.
He had begun eventing in 1989, and despite several accidents, he continued with it. He purchased a 12-year-old American thoroughbred horse – Eastern Express. Reeve trained with the horse, nicknamed Buck, in 1994, planning to enter events in 1995. On May 27 of the latter year, Buck made a refusal during an event. Witnesses said that the horse began to jump the third fence but stopped all of a sudden. This led to Reeve falling forward off the horse while holding onto the reins. His hands became entangled in them, with both the bridle and bit pulled off Buck.
Reeve landed headfirst on the far side of the fence. This shattered his first and second vertebrae. As a result of the cervical spine injury, he ended up paralysed from the neck down. He had no recollection of the accident after being flown to hospital by helicopter. Reeve’s first thoughts was that he had ruined his life and he would be a burden on his family. Yet, his wife talked him into committing to life-saving surgery. This took place in June of 1995, and saw surgeons reattach his skull to his spine.
The actor made astonishing improvements with his body. This started in 2000, when he started to regain the ability to make small movements in his fingers. Yet he was to make his last public appearance on October 9, 2004, attending his son’s hockey game. That night, we went into cardiac arrest after taking an antibiotic for an infected pressure ulcer. He fell into a coma and died 18 hours later at the age of 52.
Earl Dew
It’s always a tragedy when someone passes away as a result of horse racing. Yet it’s even worse when that rider is very young. Such is the case of Earl Dew, an American champion jockey. Many people hailed him as one of the most promising riders of his generation. His professional career began in 1937, and in the following year, he was making a name for himself. Dew was the leading rider at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans in that year. In 1940, he and fellow 19-year-old jockey Walter Lee Taylor battled for the riding title. With two days left on the calendar, both riders had the same score. Dew managed to secure 287 wins after completing the Agua Caliente Racetrack in Mexico. That secured him one more win than Taylor.
It was in 1941 that Dew attended the same Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana. This would provide him with a gold watch for his achievements. The jockey also chose to ride in the sixth race of that event. Yet tragedy would strike for the 19-year-old when a three-horse accident occurred. Crushed and trampled in the fall, Dew died while en route to the hospital. A cerebral haemorrhage as a result of a fractured skull was the cause of death. A special ceremony for him took place on March 3 at Santa Anita Park.
Kieran Kelly
Many of the stories so far have been about incidents from the past. Yet such cases have continued taking place into the new millennium, too. That was the situation of Kieran Kelly, an Irish jump jockey.
Born in County Kildare, he achieved his first success at Cheltenham Festival in March 2003. Yet his career success wasn’t to last long, as the 25-year-old experienced an accident. In August of that year, he was racing at Kilbeggan racecourse atop horse Balmy Native.
During the steeplechase, Kelly’s mount stumbled on the fifth fence. The jockey fell to the ground and the horse kicked him in the head before rolling on top of him. Paramedics rushed to the scene before transporting Kelly to the Tullamore hospital. He was then transferred to the Beaumont to receive the best possible treatment. There, he remained on life support for four days before succumbing to his injuries.
An inquest into his death heard that the horse he rode on had “a reputation for falling“. The jury reached a verdict of accidental death. Yet it urged the Turf Club to review the configuration of the course at Kilbeggan. Professional jockey Ken Whelan explained that Balmy Native was known for falling. It was his horse that collided with the horse following the tragic fall which killed Kenny.
Álvaro Pineda
Sometimes, horse races don’t even have to start before a rider suffers an injury. That was the case for Álvaro Pineda, who competed in thoroughbred horse racing. The Mexican jockey frequented races in the United States throughout his career. He was one of the top riders in California, finishing first at the Del Mar Racetrack in 1968. In 1974, his peers voted him to win the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. The award goes to a jockey of American racing every single year. Recipients display high standards of personal and professional conduct.
Yet it seems as though his high standards weren’t enough to keep him alive. In early 1975, he took to the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. There, he was to compete in a race, but he never made it out of the gate. While atop his horse, Austin Mittler, he suffered a blow to the head. The horse had reared up and flipped over, which crushed Pineda’s head against the steel frame of the gate. While the 29-year-old rider went to the Arcadia Methodist Hospital, it didn’t help. Upon arrival, doctors pronounced him dead from a skull fracture. A hospital spokesman said that the injury was below the part of the head protected by the helmet. It marked the first jockey fatality at the course since George Woolf in 1946. He suffered life-ending injuries during a spill at the track.
In a bizarre turn of events, it wasn’t the last Pineda death to occur at a horserace. In 1978, the jockey’s younger brother Roberto competed at Pimlico Race Course. The race saw fellow rider Rudy Turcotte’s horse fall down, which set off a chain reaction collision. This involved Pineda and another rider in James Thornton. All three jockeys suffered many injuries, but Pineda died later the same day. And in another link to this tragedy, the brother of Rudy Turcotte also suffered injuries. Later that same month, a separate horse racing accident broke Ron Turcotte’s neck. He became a paraplegic as a result.
Daniel Quintero
It goes to show that 2023 hasn’t been without its own tragedies so far, too. In January, a teen jockey died “instantly” after suffering a training ground accident. Work rider, Daniel Quintero was astride a horse that bolted the wrong way around the Tampa Bay Downs racecourse. His mount then collided with another running the opposite way.
The impact of that collision killed the 19-year-old straight away. Yet the two horses and the other rider involved in the incident were not injured. A minute’s silence took place at the racecourse on Saturday, January 21 before racing began.