Young jockey in serious condition after being thrown from horse

There are grave fears for a young Brisbane-based jockey who remains in intensive care after she was thrown from her horse on the final straight of her race in NSW yesterday.

A young female jockey remains in intensive care at the Princess Alexandra Hospital on Monday morning after a shocking accident during a horse race in Grafton yesterday.

Graphic footage of the incident shows Brisbane-based apprentice Leah Kilner, 24, thrown from her horse, Stella Turn, as they raced down the home straight at the northern NSW Clarence River Jockey Club.

Stella Turn appears to stumble and collapse, causing Kilner to be thrown forward from the saddle and land with force on the track.

What happens next is not captured on camera, but both Kilner and her horse suffered significant injuries.

The moment of Leah Kilner’s horror fall at Grafton

After a delay of about an hour, Kilner was flown by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to the PA with serious spinal and head injuries.

Her condition was updated from critical to serious at 10am on Monday after brain surgery overnight.

Ms Kilner’s trainer Robert Heathcote asked people to pray for Kilner‘s recovery, saying she was a “very sick young girl”, who was having surgery on Sunday evening to ”release the pressure on her brain.”

“It is a very grave situation and we should all pray for her to come through this,” Mr Heathcote said.

“Leah is the most beautiful young lady I have met in racing so we need to pray for her recovery.

“I just wanted you all to know what‘s happening as you love her as much as we do.”

The horse was euthanised within minutes of the accident.

As a mark of respect for the popular apprentice, the remaining six races on the program were postponed with the expectation they will be rescheduled for later this week.

Leah Kilner with Rob Heathcote. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography

Clarence River Jockey Club chief executive and close family friend of Ms Kilner, Michael Beattie said Kilner was a much loved member of the race community.

“Yesterday when the decision was made to call the race meeting off, that was done purely on the basis that none of the participants had the mindset of continuing racing, they had grave concerns for Leah and her family,” Mr Beattie said.

Mr Beattie said despite the horrific incident, he was hopeful Kilner’s fitness and youth would aid her recovery prospects.

“If you look for a positive, jockeys by the nature of their work are fit, so she’s certainly a fit young lady and she’s got youth on her side, not a bad spot to be in, in terms of recovery,” he said.

“I was at the track this morning, it certainly was a sombre scene but everyone’s just praying for her recovery.”

He described Kilner as an “extremely popular person” among the jockey ranks which ultimately convinced him to cancel the remainder of the Grafton meeting.

“Because there was such a long delay of more than an hour before Leah was airlifted from the course, there was a great wave of concern for her from the other jockeys,’’ Beattie said.

Beattie told The Courier-Mail on Sunday night that while the cause of the horrific fall had not yet been determined, he suspected that “the horse has stumbled and then, as a consequence, not been able to get that hoof back in a good spot, overbalanced and then collapsed.”

“I’ve looked at the footage on a big screen and it is really just so hard to see what actually happened in detail, but everyone here was very, very shaken up.”

“These riders are together for a long time on race day and they do build strong bonds; everyone was and is very worried.”

Leah Kilner is airlifted to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital. Picture: Nine News

Ms Kilner is one of the most outstanding apprentice riders in the region. She has outridden her country claim and has ridden more than 200 winners during her career in the saddle.

She won 46 races during 2021-22 and is closing on her best-ever season of 54 winners in 2018-19.

Ms Kilner had only recently returned to the saddle after another fall at Brisbane’s Doomben trials in February left her unable to ride for two weeks.

“I came out of it with a fractured and displaced rib,” she said in March.

“It’s in a really bad spot, the way it was displaced, it (her rib) was actually pointing right down towards my lung, so that was the big thing.”

“If I was to get back riding too soon and I come off, I could potentially end up with a punctured lung and end up in hospital. That’s what we didn’t want.”

She said that staying trackside had been “very frustrating, but at the same time, I have to look back and take it all in and say how lucky I was.”

“You have to put things into perspective in times like this.”

“I was so eager to get back as soon as I could.”

Leah Kilner in 2020

Originally published as Young jockey in serious condition after being thrown from horse