Gill family denied a fairytale in the Desiree Gill Memorial Roma Cup

There was no fairytale for the Gill family after their horse was beaten in a photo finish in the Desiree Gill Memorial Roma Cup.

The funeral of jockey Desiree Gill will be held on Monday. Picture: Supplied

THE fairytale farewell for late jockey Desiree Gill was ruined by a short half head.

Gill was the female hoop who fell in a race on the Sunshine Coast last Saturday, only to lose her life the following morning.

While the funeral for the 45-year-old mother-of-two will be held on Monday, family and friends were hoping for one last fitting hoorah on the weekend in the Roma Cup.

The bush feature was re-named the XXXX Desiree Gill Memorial Roma Cup. Troilus Fuse, a grey gelding that was broken in and usually ridden by Gill _ and trained by her husband Barry Gill _ kicked well clear in the straight with Jack 'N' Me, only to be beaten in a photo finish. The third place-getter was more than eight lengths away.

Barry Gill said he elected to stay at home and watch the race from his living room where he was joined by 20 family and friends.

``When the two horses turned for home, they were going hammer and tong all the way up the straight and you couldn't split them,'' Gill said.

``There was more than eight lengths to the third horse.

``It was unbelievable. You should have heard our lounge room. We knew we'd got beat, but we were just hoping it was a bad angle on the TV.

``It was nearly a dream come true, wasn't it? We almost got the fairytale.'' Barry admitted he was happy to get beaten by the winner Jack 'N' Me because the horse's trainer, Mark Goodwin, lost his daughter Leanne in a race fall at the same track nearly 20 years ago.

``If anyone was going to beat us, I was glad it was Mark and his family,'' Barry said.

``Dessie and Leanne were great friends when they first moved to Queensland.'' The photo finish in the Cup capped what was a tough day for Barry, who had already endured a heart-breaking week.

``I sent the horses to the races with Dessie's friend Mary Hassam, who trains at Bundaberg,'' Gill said.

``Mary had a horror day and had a horse named Centrefold Babe who went through the barriers in the first race, then had the saddle come around the flank and buck. She had to be put down.

``Then we backed a horse named Angels From Above because `Dessie' would have been looking down on us. But then that horse broke down before the Cup.

``I felt like ringing Dessie at that stage and saying, `can we just scratch our grey (Troilus Fuse) because nothing is going right.''

Gill said last week that his wife had almost prepared him for such a tragic event.

``It's not something we spoke about all the time, but maybe once every five or six months over a quiet drink. She was adamant with what she wanted to happen, and she didn't want to be left alive with no quality of life,'' Gill said.

When another female jockey, Simone Montgomerie, lost her life on Darwin Cup day in August, that was the last time Gill and Desiree discussed the matter.

Racing Queensland and the National Jockeys Trust have since set up a fund for Gill. The funeral will be held at Gympie Turf Club at 10.30am.