Jockey Carly-Mae Pye dies after track fall at Rockhampton

 
THE Australian racing industry is in mourning with the tragic news Queensland jockey Carly-Mae Pye has died this afternoon.
Racing Queensland chief executive Darren Condon confirmed Pye, 26, has died from injuries sustained in a trackwork accident in Rockhampton on Monday.
‘’It is an incredibly sad time for everyone in racing to lose someone like Carly who was a salt of the earth racing person,’’ Condon said.
‘’Carly-Mae was a true champion of our sport who will be remembered as a brilliant horsewoman.’’
Social media sites were immediately flooded with tributes from fellow jockeys including Melbourne Cup winning hoop Chris Munce.


‘’It never gets any easier every time we lose another jockey . RIP Carly,’’ Munce wrote on his Facebook.
A champion equestrian rider and gifted jockey, Carly-Mae was speared head-first on to the racetrack and crushed when the horse she was riding broke down and rolled on her.
The horse ridden by Carly-Mae, which broke both its front legs and had to be euthanized, was being educated by Mae’s partner Rockhampton trainer Tim Cook.
Cook, who says he loves his partner ‘’to the moon and back’’, had been keeping a bedside vigil in hospital even though he understood her outlook was bleak.

Condon has been in Rockhampton with RQ jockey welfare manager Rachel Mason who has helped counsel upset jockeys. A counsellor will remain on hand in Rockhampton for the rest of the week.
She was a talented jockey who rode mainly at Rockhampton, Mackay and Gladstone, but has ridden three winners in Brisbane.
Originally published as Jockey dies after track fall