Racing has been united in grief at the death of Henry de Bromhead's son Jack in a pony racing fall yesterday.
Jack, 13, twin brother to Mia, suffered fatal injuries in a freak accident when competing at the two-day Glenbeigh meeting in County Kerry.
An air ambulance was summoned after Jack's mount veered into the sea at a bend and fell on top of him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A successful rider on the pony racing circuit this season, Jack also became a familiar face via television interviews at his father's Co Waterford stable, which sent out Honeysuckle (Champion Hurdle) and A Plus Tard (Gold Cup) to score at Cheltenham last March, 11 months after Minella Times’s Grand National victory under Rachael Blackmore.
"Like everybody in the horse racing and pony racing community, I want to offer my deepest condolences to his parents Henry and Heather, his sisters Mia and Georgia and extended family, on the tragic loss of their beloved Jack," said Horse Racing Ireland CEO Suzanne Eade.
"Jack may have been only 13 but he was already incredibly popular in the racing community.
"His family and friends, his pony racing colleagues and all those whose lives he touched are in our thoughts today during this numbing, devastating tragedy.
"Horse Racing Ireland will assist in offering counselling for Jack's pony racing colleagues and friends. May he rest in peace."
The remainder of Saturday's fixture was abandoned and Sunday's meeting has been cancelled as a mark of respect.
