A leading Victorian jockey has died after a horror fall during a race on Monday.
Jockey Dean Holland was flown to a Melbourne hospital in a critical condition after the sickening accident in the first race at Donald, in western Victoria, on Monday afternoon.
Holland, a 34-year-old father of four young children, died in hospital some hours later.
Monday’s accident came when Holland was riding the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained three-year-old Headingley in the first race.
The horse veered suddenly, and hit the running rail at the top of the final straight. As Headingley fell, it also brought down another horse, Time To Rumble, ridden by Alana Kelly.
Kelly was able to get to her feet and walk back to the jockeys’ room. Holland, however, remained on the track and was treated by paramedics, until the air ambulance arrived to fly him to hospital.
Both horses also survived the accident.
The Donald race meeting was called off. Racing steward Ray Livingstone said all riders had agreed to the cancellation.
“Dean Holland is undergoing treatment as we speak and it was the decision of the stewards to abandon the meeting, bearing in mind the nature of the circumstances,” Mr Livingstone told Racing.com.
“We just felt it not prudent to push on with the meeting. Hence the decision was made by us to abandon, which I must say was met by unanimous agreement by all the riders.”
Monday’s incident is the latest in a series of bad falls in Victoria in recent weeks. Four jockeys – Jamie Kah, Ethan Brown, Craig Williams and Teo Nugent – have been seriously injured.
Holland had one of the biggest days of his career just a few weeks ago, winning the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington after picking up a ride due to Kah being involved in a fall earlier on the same day.
“First of all, what I didn’t want to do was carry on, win, lose or draw with what happened with Jamie [Kah] and Willo (Craig Williams),” he said afterwards.
“My thoughts go out to them.
“I’m just the lucky one that was able to ride light today and picked up the ride on one of Australia’s best sprinters.”
Holland, who was originally from Adelaide, began his career in South Australia. Another career highlight was the 2019 Adelaide Cup.
