Horrific falls a risk of horse racing: Lest we forget the Caulfield Cup, 1885

For those of us who follow horse racing in the U.S. and Australia, it's been a tough week with three promising young jockeys killed in race falls - two in Australia and one in the U.S. Debate has begun in both countries over whether training tactics or jockey riding strategies are placing jockeys' lives at risk.But we need to recall some of the pragmatics of the sport we love

Those of us with long memories remember a time when horrific jockey injuries and deaths were almost considered par for the course in a sport with millions of dollars worth of private and public money on the line. And we recall a time when young jockeys entering the sport were thought of as akin to young men joining the military. They received room, board and an opportunity to learn a trade from the masters with the possibility of a very comfortable living and a satisfying retirement. In return they were going to be asked, every so often, to put their lives on the line.

Every time the jockey dons his or her silks, picks up his whip and heads for the mounting yard they bring to mind a soldier donning his uniform, strapping on his gun and falling in. Sure, it will probably be the same old, same old. Obey the orders do what you're told, follow the rules, everything will be fine. But maybe not. For Juan Saez, Caitlyn Forrest and Carly-Mae Pye this week, it wasn't. And three young lives were lost.

But this week is an aberration. We have had long periods of no jockey fatalities despite the huge number of horse races run each day around the world, and we will have more. And its easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it's never been this bad.

I recently discovered an account of one of the most horrific racetrack accidents in all of Australian horse racing that occurred 129 years ago to this race day, in front of the packed grandstand of the Caulfield raceourse in the Caulfield Cup of 1885. Here's the link to a report from the day of the fall in the now-defunct Melbourne Argus.

An excerpt:

"M'Grade, who had been on Tom Brown, looked very ghastly. His nose was broken in, one arm hung   loosely and what with dust and blood and his white face, those around thought that he also had been killed outright. M'Grath, the rider of Prince Imperial, was also senseless, having received a blow on the head   when his horse rolled over. The tiny rider Tuomey was stretched alongside his dead  horse, Uarah, who had been instantly killed, and at first it seemed that both horse and jockey were in the same condition. Com- miseration for the tiny boy lying on one end of the stretcher was greater on account of his small size. Wyman, the rider of Sardius, was one of the first down, and as a dozen  horses seemed to roll right on top of him his escape from instant death was a miracle. He, too, was picked up unconscious, suffering from   concussion of the brain."

Today is Caulfield Cup Day, 2014. Let's give thanks to how much safer the sport has become. Lest we forget.