Young jockey Kelsey Hannan flown to hospital after falling from her ride at Strathalbyn Cup meet

A young female jockey is in a coma in hospital and the Strathalbyn Cup race meet has been abandoned after a horror race fall.

Young jockey Kelsey Hannan fell from her horse at the Strathalbyn Cup on Sunday. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

A young female jockey has been flown to hospital with serious injuries after she fell from her horse during a race at Strathalbyn.

Emergency services were called to the Strathalbyn Racecourse about 1.40pm after reports Kelsey Hannan, 21, had fallen from a horse.

The fall happened at the Strathalbyn Cup meet at the Adelaide Hills course after Hannan, a rising young New Zealand apprentice rider, crossed the line on Iva Dream in Race 1 on Sunday.

The 21-year-old fell from her horse after crossing the finish line. Picture: Supplied.

The horse appeared to clip heels and fall to the ground 50m after the finishing post, throwing Hannan to the ground heavily.

SA Ambulance Service said Hannan had lost consciousness for some time. It was reported from the track she was able to move her legs and squeeze people’s hands.

She was placed in a neck brace and flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she has been placed in an induced coma.

The remaining races of the meet, including the Strathalbyn Cup scheduled for 4.30pm, have been abandoned. Racing SA hopes to run the remaining seven races of the meet on Friday.

UPDATE | Racing SA will provide an update on Kelsey when more information is available.

Today’s meeting at Strathalbyn has been postponed until further notice. The intention of Racing SA is to run the remaining 7 races on Friday. Racing SA will work together with its partners…

— Racing SA (@RacingSA) January 28, 2024

Hannan had recently returned to riding after suffering a broken jaw. She had ridden six winners in metropolitan race meets in her first two weeks in Australia.

The postponement of the remaining races on Sunday came after the jockeys at Strathalbyn took a vote and elected to withdraw their services for the rest of the day.

The Racing SA CEO Vaughn Lynch said the decision to postpone the races to allow the competitors time to emotionally recover is the compassionate decision.

“There is no right or wrong in these instances and we’re very compassionate with what was occurring and we just felt to take a breath and give it a couple of days would help the industry as a whole,” Mr Lynch said.

“From Racing SA’s point of view, the health and wellbeing of our jockeys is the most important thing, in this case in particular Kelsey who had the fall.

“Our thoughts are with Kelsey at this moment and it’s an unfortunate situation but these things happen in racing so we just have to deal with it on its merits.”

Mr Lynch has said the seven races will be transferred to Friday and Monday’s trial races are still been looked into to be rescheduled as soon as possible.

A spokesperson for Racing SA thanked medical staff that helped Kelsey.

“We would like to thank the on track medical teams at Strathalbyn who ensured Kelsey received immediate care as well as the State Rescue Helicopter Service for their swift response,” the spokesperson said.

“Kelsey was airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she is receiving treatment for a non life threatening vertebrae injury.

“We share everyone’s concern for Kelsey’s condition and will provide a further update as soon as possible.”

MORE TO COME

Originally published as Young jockey Kelsey Hannan flown to hospital after falling from her ride at Strathalbyn Cup meet