Racing: Fatal attraction in sport's black week: Sue Montgomery considers the implications for horseracing following the freak accident at Lingfield which led to the death of Steve Wood

WHILE those in the motor racing world search for reasons and someone to blame for the crashes that took the lives of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, the horseracing fraternity have already acknowledged that the tragic death of the jockey Steve Wood at Lingfield on Friday was an accident, pure and simple.

There was no negligence on anyone's part. As Wood, 26, drove his mount Kalar to challenge Slivovitz, the horse jinked sideways and his forefeet clipped the galloping hind hooves of the other. He stumbled, shooting Wood out of the saddle. The manoeuvre, with one horse running close to another, happens in many races without contact, and contact happens frequently without disaster.

Clipping can be likened to one athlete treading on the heel of another. In a sprint race like Friday's, Kalar would have been travelling at 40 miles an hour. Wood was thrown at that speed on to firm ground, and then trampled and kicked around like a football by the following horses. He was a tiny man even by jockey standards, and died almost immediately from massive chest injuries.

He, like Declan Murphy, badly injured four days previously, was wearing the mandatory body protector and helmet, but the metal- shod hoof of a horse, with half a ton of moving, unthinking weight behind it, is a terrible cudgel to be struck with.

Horses are powerful and unpredictable and riding them, from Pony Club level up, is acknowledged as one of the riskiest of risk sports. But racing, the longest-

established professional arm of equine competition, has a better record than most; last year five horse trials competitors lost their lives.

Wood was the first Flat race jockey to be killed in action since Joe Blanks at Brighton in 1981 in uncannily similar circumstances. Four jump jockeys have died since then, Michael Blackmore and Jayne Thompson in 1986, Vivian Kennedy in 1988 and Philip Barnard three years ago. All these fatal falls took place on firm ground, on which a body is more likely to snap than bend.

A jump jockey knows that falls are part of the job description, a Flat jockey, though he is aware of the risks, does not expect to crash. The latest statistics show that on average one ride in 15 over jumps ends in a fall, one in seven of those in steeplechases and one in 26 over hurdles. The trade paper Racing Post publishes a daily list of jockeys sidelined by injury.

On the Flat, falls average out at about one in 400 rides. But because of the greater speed and shock involved they are potentially more damaging. And they take all forms. Willie Carson, on Silken Knot in 1981, and Lester Piggott, on Mr Brooks two years ago, cheated death when their mounts broke limbs and fell. Piggott was lucky to escape after a horse went down in the starting stalls at Epsom and smashed its way under the gate, ripping off part of the jockey's ear in the process. Sir Gordon Richards' career was ended when a filly flipped over backwards on to him in the parade ring at Sandown, smashing his pelvis. Manny Mercer was killed at Ascot in 1959 when he was smashed against a concrete fence post.

It is impossible to legislate against a freak accident or unlucky blow - run the races again and Wood and Murphy may have emerged unscathed - but safety measures for jockeys have improved out of all recognition since the days when all that protected a rider's head was a soft silk or velvet cap. Racing, as the Formula One arena of horse sport, has led the way in much technical safety development; today's lightweight crash helmets worn throughout equestrianism were pioneered by jockeys, who, until the mid-Sixties, had worn cork versions. These were not compulsory in jump races until 1924.

Today, properly designed crash helmets and body protectors are mandatory, and medical scrutiny, especially where knocks on the head are concerned, is very tight. In addition, and all concrete posts have been removed from British racecourses. Starting stalls handlers have to wear crash helmets, as do stable lads and trainers riding at home on the gallops.

The modern helmet that Declan Murphy was wearing when he fell and was kicked in the head last Monday, sustaining a fractured skull, undoubtedly saved his life. Ironically, four days after his accident, a new, improved helmet, designed in consultation with the Jockey Club's medical adviser Dr Michael Turner, was unveiled. The new model, with extra polystyrene padding, is made to offer three times the protection of the old, but wearing it will not yet be compulsory.

Body protectors, made of panels of polystyrene and covering the chest and upper and lower back, were introduced for jump jockeys six years ago and on the Flat in 1991. They come in various designs, and there has been some disquiet about the more rigid types, in which it is more difficult to curl up in a tight ball in the case of a fall. In the wake of these recent accidents there is to be another look at a jockey's 'armour'.

Riding horses is extremely pleasurable, and jockeys may have the most fun in racing. But they also take the most risks. Those at the top get paid extremely well for doing so; like the big motor racing names the leading jockeys are all millionaires. Steve Wood, though, was not. His last ride was only his fourth of the week. He lived and died for love of the sport.

(Photograph omitted)