Experience as a jockey might have saved assistant's life

Aaron Taylor believes his experience as a former jockey was possibly a life-saving element in the horrific barrier incident at Riccarton on Saturday.

Taylor miraculously escaped serious injury when, acting as a starter's assistant, he was horrifyingly caught in front of the starting stalls as the field was released for Race 3.

Taylor tried desperately to duck clear of the horses but was knocked down by Double Ar coming out of the inside barrier stall.

Nursing some severe bruising yesterday, Taylor was able to reflect on how lucky he'd been.

"I was lucky on two counts," he told the Herald.

"There were two horses between me and safety when the gates opened and I managed to get inside one of them.

"That obviously left only one to clear and he hit me with what felt like his shoulder.

"If I'd been between those two horses it would have been a lot worse."

The severe contact with Double Ar threw Taylor to the left and out of further harm's way.

"My days of riding definitely helped because you were always taught to roll with the fall or contact with a horse," said Taylor, who by his own count rode about 60 winners.

"I did that instinctively and it lessened the contact with the horse."

Official starter Stephanie Payne will be at the centre of an inquiry which was called by stewards after the race and immediately adjourned.

Former high-profile jumps jockey John Humphries, the official starter for all Waikato and Bay of Plenty meetings, was fined $200 for a similar incident at Te Rapa 14 or 15 years ago when assistant Trevor Stewart was caught in front of the opening gates and was similarly not seriously injured.

Humphries then put in place a system which now makes it virtually impossible for that to happen again.

"With the stalls we use [not overhead barriers] the starter is not given the power until the person in control of it can see that all attendants are clear.

"Those overhead gates that Ellerslie, Trentham and Riccarton use a different starting system and the starter has the power all the way through.

"Even if I pressed the button prematurely nothing would happen."

Humphries also relies on manual calling.

"Usually if a horse needs taking into the barrier by an assistant they will climb up alongside the horse once it's in and hold its head.

"If they intend leading it in and going under the front of the gates they'll yell out 'Going through' and 'Man in front' and I always acknowledge that.

"If someone goes through the jockey will almost always say 'Man in front'. It would be very difficult to have an accident now."

Trevor Harrison, who starts races in the Auckland area, says that while the power is always on for the gas-operated Ellerslie gates, he has put measures in place to ensure there are no slip-ups.

"You have to be so, so careful at Ellerslie because even if you dropped the control panel the gates would open.

"I've even had my panel adjusted to suit the pressure of my hand for when I release the field.

"We've developed a pattern at Ellerslie where the last horse, even if it's a bad horse, is not led in and the minute the gate closes on the last horse the field is released."

Harrison said the pattern with the non-overhead gates used at other northern meetings is the same used in the Waikato where verbal confirmation backs up visual contact of attendants.

Aaron Taylor said that at Riccarton on Saturday he heard Jamie Bullard on the horse he led into the stalls call out: "Man in front".

"I don't know if there was a communication breakdown or not. That's up to the inquiry."

Starters in New Zealand have been universally keen to start from a ladder directly behind the starting stalls.

In Australia, the starter is almost always either directly alongside the inside gate or in an elevated position forward of the starting stalls.

Chief stipendiary steward Cameron George was operating at the Hawkes Bay Cup meeting at Hastings on Saturday.

Minutes after the Riccarton incident, George told Riccarton stewards to instruct Stephanie Payne to start the remaining seven races from a position in front of the gates.

That is a strong possibility to become a blanket requirement on all racetracks using the Ellerslie, Trentham and Riccarton overhead gates.

In recent times in Australia, a starter's assistant positioned directly behind the gates, lifts an arm to signal to the starter that all horses are in their stalls and that the attendants are clear.

George said Saturday's incident was embarrassing.

"It looks unprofessional, but I guess the upside is that when something like this happens it provides the opportunity to review how things are done."