The death of Stephen Yarborough at Haydock on Friday is believed to be the first fatal accident involving starting stalls since they were introduced on British racecourses more than half a century ago. Kate Hills, a communications consultant for Racetech, which operates the starting stalls, said on Saturday that the firm had long had “an impeccable record” on safety and had been unable to identify any precedent for Friday’s incident, when Yarborough was run over by the starting stalls as they were being moved by a tractor.
Racetech’s chairman, Tom Phillips, and its chief executive, John Bozza, travelled to Haydock on Saturday morning to speak to staff members. Some of those who were part of Yarborough’s team on Friday were due to return to the site for another shift at last night’s race meeting, though Hills said none of them were being compelled to do so and that discussions had been held with each man to assess the impact of the incident.
The 60-year-old Yarborough, a 30-year veteran at Racetech, was remembered by stalls handlers around the country, who, along with the jockeys, wore black armbands throughout the afternoon. “It’s terrible, devastating,” said Arnie Jones, team leader of the stalls handlers who worked the Super Sprint card here. “He went to work on a normal day and didn’t go home.
“You expect the horses to be the risk, not the starting stalls. They’re pretty low, the lads. Some of them know him. I know him the best, probably, I’ve known him the longest. Lovely lad. Do anything for you. Always outgoing.”
Jones led his dozen colleagues in remembering Yarborough before the first race here, the team standing in a circle with bowed heads as he spoke. “I just said to the lads, we have to have a minute to think of Stephen, think of his family and his adopted family, because the lads he works with up north, they are his family,” Jones said.
Jones said he could not describe the precise circumstances that led to Yarborough’s death. However, he was satisfied there were no safety implications that would affect the work of his team. “It was a freak accident,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by Willie McKeon, another veteran stalls handler until he suffered an acrimonious parting with Racetech in the autumn. McKeon was working here for the trainer Hugo Palmer and said he knew Yarborough well.
“He was a grafter, he worked his way up, he was the team leader towards the end. He never stopped running round, he was a live wire, you couldn’t stop him.
“As a fella, he was lovely. He was always there, that’s all he wanted to do, he lived for the job.” McKeon described Yarborough as a man who looked after his colleagues and would send some home before the last race if he was well staffed and knew they faced a long journey home.
McKeon said he could recall some accidents involving the starting stalls but nothing that had ever resulted in serious injury, even when handlers had fallen off the apparatus while changing the numbers on display above the gates. “We’ve been on the stalls and by accident someone’s hit the button and the gates have opened automatically, lads are falling off … simple little things like that. But never a fatality.
“It was a freak accident, from what the boys told me. The driver has been there for years. He must be devastated.” Investigations by Merseyside police and the Health and Safety Executive have begun.
Flags flew at half-mast over the grandstand as Newbury’s meeting took place, with the most significant result on the track being Frankie Dettori’s success aboard Magical Memory in the Hackwood Stakes. The 46-year-old jockey has been making a gradual return to action since breaking bones in his shoulder last month and this was his first day’s riding since Sunday but he pronounced himself “good to go” after landing this Group Three prize.
“I’m getting stronger every day,” he said. “That extra week was crucial. I’ll pick and choose a couple during this week, it’s all bad races but I’ll ride the odd maiden and work towards Ascot.” The Queen’s track stages the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday, in which Dettori hopes to be involved before playing a full part in Glorious Goodwood the following week.
Richard Fahey trained the Super Sprint winner for the third time in five years but not with Maggies Angel, sent off the 9-4 favourite. She seemed not to appreciate the rain-softened turf and was third behind Bengali Boys, who sluiced through the mud to score by six lengths.
“Funny enough, the day we got him, I said he’d win the Sprint,” said the Malton-based Fahey, “but I also said that about three or four of them. The ground seemed to bring a big improvement. He slaughtered them there, so it’s got to be the ground.
“Whereas the filly probably didn’t like it. I just think she got stuck in it a bit. She’s run respectable. She was on her head [going too fast for comfort] and the ground was against her. I’d say only ability got her into third.”
Chris Cook’s Sunday’s tips
REDCAR 2.00 Arbalet 2.30 Mydadsared (nap) 3.00 Snappydresser
3.30 Clear As A Bell 4.00 Mysterial 4.30 Art Obsession
5.00 Connemara Queen 5.30 Angel In The Snow (nb)
STRATFORD 2.10 Mister Universum 2.40 Cliffside Park 3.10 Definite Future
3.40 Lillian 4.10 Buck Magic 4.40 Wynford
5.10 A Legal Beauty
NEWTON ABBOT 2.20 Knight Commander 2.50 Horse Force One
3.20 Bagad Bihoue 3.50 Il Sicario 4.20 Calin Du Brizais
4.50 Theo 5.20 Sutter’s Mill
