Top female jockey, 26, knocked unconscious as her horse rolls over her after race fall – just four years after she was placed into a coma in similar incident
- Raquel Clark, 26, fell from her horse during the Morphette races on Saturday
- Her horse Goodgee tripped on another horse’s heels before it fell and rolled
- She was knocked unconscious and deemed critical but is now considered stable
- Three years ago Ms Clarke was placed in an induced coma after being trampled
A jockey has been knocked unconscious and suffered a collapsed lung after her horse rolled on top of her when it fell shortly after a race.
Raquel Clark, 26, was aboard four-year-old mare called Goodgee at Morphettville in Adelaide on Saturday afternoon.
She had passed the finish line and was slowing the horse down when Goodgee tripped on another horse’s heels and tumbled.
The horse rolled over Clark, and another oncoming runner then trampled her, Adelaide Now reported.
Raquel Clark, 26, was knocked unconscious when her horse rolled over her on Saturday
Paramedics were immediately on the scene and declared her to be in a critical condition, but she regained consciousness before being transported to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she was later said to be responsive and in a stable condition.
Clark’s manager Warren Conroy said she was not complaining of any particular pain and had responded well to the paramedic’s tests.
She will stay in hospital overnight before more assessments and scans.
Conroy said she has been cleared of neck fractures or breaks but her left lung had partially collapsed.
She was expected to have complete concussion tests in coming days.
In December 2015 Ms Clark, who is formerly from Tasmania, was placed into an induced coma after she was trampled by her horse, Lingo, before a race at Spreyton.
The horse bucked her off then dragged her.
It was feared she had suffered a serious head injury but she escaped with sore shoulders and facial abrasions.
The award-winning jockey was placed in an induced comma three years ago when she was trampled before a race
Ms Clark moved to South Australia in 2017 and has made a name for herself within the racing community.
In August she won the title of the SA Jockey of the Year and Apprentice Jockey of the Year.
She won the Adelaide jockey’s premiership in 2018/19 with 49 metropolitan winners.
The accident follows the death of female jockeys Mikaela Claridge, 22, and Melanie Tyndall, 32, which shook the racing industry three months ago.
Claridge, who had recently married, was killed during training at a Melbourne race course on August 30 before Tyndall died the following day while competing in Darwin.
Last month, self-published author John Payne revealed in his book ‘Their Last Ride – The Fallen Jockeys of Australia’ that 950 riders have been killed since racing began in Australia in the 1790s.
There were an average of 18 deaths annually before 1906 but in the past decade it has dropped to two.
Raquel Clark, 26, pictured dressed up for a racing event last month