Mike Dillon: Safety top priority but regulation cannot eliminate risk

Horse racing is as safe as officialdom can make it.

It is a question that is always asked when a jockey death occurs- what more could have been done.

The answer is, nothing.

There are inherent risks involved when a large group of 500kg animals career along in excess of 40km an hour with jockeys riding competitively.

No level of severe regulation can totally eliminate risk.

Horses clipping the heels of the horse directly ahead at speed is a regular occurrence in thoroughbred racing. It happened when 16-year-old Sam McRae was killed in Race 2 at Riverton races on Saturday.

But it wasn't the clipping heels that killed the lad. It was being dragged by his mount, Queen's Evidence, after the apprentice's foot became entangled in the stirrup iron, and that is extremely rare.

With the propensity for jockeys to ride with just their toes resting on the edge of the stirrup iron these days, the chance of getting "hooked up" is nowhere near as great as it used to be.

This needs to be said and it might not be popular after Saturday's disaster: the riding standard overall - and stress the "overall" - at the bottom of the South Island is a concern. That is a general comment and not reflective of Saturday's Riverton race.

But there are too many inexperienced riders in most races in the deep south and it can be a dangerous cocktail.

There is no immediate answer to that. All over the world jockeys eventually move to where the greater money is as they become more experienced and more successful. The south bears the brunt of that in New Zealand.

Generally, the better the riders, the less the risk.

But there are exceptions.

At Moonee Valley on Thursday night, one of the greatest jockeys Australia has seen, Damien Oliver, crashed when his horse clipped a rival's heel.

He came as close as you can to disaster - he cracked his T3 and T4 vertebrae, which surgeons fused on Friday. A further 10kg of impact and he would probably have been seeing the world from a wheelchair.

When the two young jockeys were killed in Australia two weeks ago, questions were asked about racing's safety and they were quickly answered by chief Victorian steward Des Gleeson.

Gleeson told the Herald yesterday that the inquiry into the Oliver fall had yet to be completed and could not be commented on, but the two falls that caused death were both deemed to be accidental.

"We are continually reviewing our safety on things like vests and field limits. We have a full-on review going on at the moment."

Regulate all you like, but the safety bottom-line is a jockey's ability and quick reflexes.

And luck.