Jockey who died after fall had been in 'total control'

An apprentice jockey who died after sustaining head injuries in a fall during the Galway races in November 2003 had been in "total control of his horse", the Dublin City Coroner's Court has heard.

Seán Cleary (22), Athlone, Co Westmeath, fell from the Paddy Mullins-trained All Heart in the Corrib Oil Auction Race, the first race of the day at Ballybrit.

He was taken by ambulance to University College Hospital Galway and later transferred to Beaumont Hospital Dublin where he died less then a week later without ever regaining consciousness.

The race had been popular with apprentices because it allowed particularly low jockey weights. The race was the subject of a safety review following Cleary's death.

Niall McCullagh, a jockey whose horse had been two lengths behind Cleary's during the race, told the inquest that he saw the horse fall but could not see the jockey. "I felt Seán must have been underneath the horse . . . I cannoned into her."

The riders in front of Cleary had become bunched up and had slowed during the race, McCullagh said. Cleary could not move because there were riders either side of him and his horse "clipped the heels" of the rider in front.

"Seán was an experienced rider, it could have happened to anyone," he said.