Horse racing: Heartfelt words for fallen jockey

Horse racing a minute silence at Tauranga Races 13 August 2022 for Taiki Yanagida. Photo / Trish Dunell.

Fallen jockey Taiki Yanagida inspired heartfelt tributes and plenty of tears as he was farewelled at a public memorial service at Matamata racecourse yesterday.

The 28-year-old jockey died in Waikato Hospital last Tuesday, six days after a race fall at Cambridge that saw him placed in an induced coma he never woke from.

Up to 400 people gathered at the ceremony at Taiki's home track, including Yanagida's mother, Kayano, and Chiaki, one of his two sisters, who had flown from their native Japan to be with him before he died.

The family and very close personal friends had gathered for a private ceremony and cremation last Friday, but yesterday's service was a chance for those close to Yanagida, particularly from the horse racing industry, to join together.

"It was a very fitting memorial which demonstrated how respected and loved Taiki was," said Matamata racing stalwart Dennis Ryan.

"We had a lot of people there and there were some wonderful words from those who knew Taiki well."

One of those was fellow Japanese-born jockey Yuto Kumagai. Yanagida's former boss Lance O'Sullivan also spoke, as did former champion jockey and apprentice mentor Noel Harris, who said "Taiki was an example to all other apprentices."

"The day was a great chance for us all to come together and Tommy Hazlett, who along with Pam Gerard and their family, had been so close to Taiki in recent times did a wonderful job organising much of the day," said Ryan.

There were also tributes from those overseas who could not attend, including expat Kiwi jockey and good friend Samantha Collett, Winona Costin and Yanagida's close friend Masa Hashizume, whose delivered his video tribute in Japanese.

"Ted McLachlan [Taiki's manager] also spoke so well and it was a very moving experience," said Ryan.

"It was especially important for Taiki's friends and families who were overseas, some in Japan, who could watch the livestream of the service so they could get an understanding of how loved and respected Taiki was here.

"I am really glad they got to experience that."

The service came two days after a minute's silence for Yanagida brought the Tauranga race meeting on Saturday to a halt, with commentator George Simon among those leading the tributes as racing participants gathered in the parade ring.

Yanagida was rising rapidly up the New Zealand jockeys' ranks and finished equal 15th on the national premiership last season, with 42 winners.

He had only just returned from visiting his family for a month in Japan when he was involved in the accident that took his life, the first jockey to die in a race fall in New Zealand since 2016.