THE EXTRAORDINARY FALL OF SPEERS AND ROLLS

By Graham Potter | Monday, August 9, 2010

You had to see it to believe it. Then you had to watch the replay five times to make sure your eyes were not deceiving you.

The incident that led to the race fall of apprentice jockeys Luke Rolls and Mitchell Speers in the sixth race at Eagle Farm on Saturday was an extraordinary occurrence … and then some.

Speers, who had enjoyed the glow of victory earlier in the day when scoring aboard the Liam Birchley trained Seqsational, was travelling smoothly enough aboard the $1.70 favourite Fillydelphia seemingly confidently lining up a double for the day when disaster struck with a capitol D.

A chain reaction of movement of horses racing tight to the inside of Fillydelphia, who was racing six wide, culminated in the filly being knocked sideways and becoming unbalanced. As the favourite unexpectedly slid sideways Speers was thrust from the saddle, falling inwards onto Care Bare and rider Luke Rolls.

What happened next was quite amazing.

The tale of one of the most bizarre falls seen in Queensland is best described in pictorial form (see photo sequence on right). The captions to the photos are:

Race fall 1: Temple Court (yellow cap centre) has moved out marginally cramping the horses who were racing tight to his outside. That was enough to cause a chain reaction as Jet Surge rolled onto Care Bare (in the red colours) who in turn bumped Fillydelphia (in the black and white colours on the outside). Fillydelphia starts to slip sideways. Rider Mitchell Speers loses his balance and starts to fall inwards.

Race fall 2: Speers is now half pulling Fillydelphia with him as his flight path is on a collision course with Luke Rolls, the rider of Care Bear.

Race fall 3 and Race fall 4: Speers thumbs into Rolls - hard. As contact is made, Speers inadvertently gives Rolls a severe, surprise stiff-arm tackle. He collects Rolls with a strong impact.

Race fall 5: Rolls is pushed from the saddle of Care Bear and starts to fall to the ground with Speers still in no-man’s land.

Race fall 6: Rolls is now well and truly on his way down, while Speers gets a chance to save himself as he lands (almost) in the saddle of Care Bear. The problem for Speers is that he is still holding onto the reins of Fillydelphia as he lands on Care Bear. Had he let those reins go now and concentrated all his efforts on staying on Care Bear, he might have gained more of a hold … but then we are talking about a sequence of events that is only taking a split second to unfold.

Race fall 7: Rolls is about to hit the ground.

Race fall 8: Speers is still holding the reins of Fillydelphia when that horse jerks his head away, resenting being pulled in such a manner. Speers’ legs shoot out behind him in a wide arc as Rolls finally crashes to the turf, landing feet first. His legs buckle on impact.

Race fall 9: Speers is now in a most precarious position. He tries to cling onto Care Bear while still holding on to Fillydelphia.

Race fall 10: The fact that Speers is still holding the reins of Fillydelphia now turns into a possible plus as he tries to pull himself back into the saddle. His legs have now come swung full circle at speed around the horse though and they are pulling the rider in the other direction.

Race fall 11: Speers is finally forced to release the reins of Fillydelphia. He tries valiantly to wrap his right arm around the neck of Care Bear but his legs, hovering in mid-air, are now under the force of gravity and they start pulling the rider down.

Race fall 12: Speers loses his battle to stay on a horse - any horse - and he slips down the side of Care Bear. Behind him, Rolls still hasn’t come to a standstill as he is still carried along by the momentum of his fall.

Race fall 13: It is nearly all over as Speers heads for the ground.

Race fall 14: Now both jockeys are on the track. Neither horse involved actually fell which was a small miracle in its own right. They gallop on freely to complete the course.

Race fall 15: The final scene of devastation as the race goes on leaving behind the stricken riders.

The club doctor’s gave his initial diagnosis of the condition of the two riders before they were transported to hospital: “Mitchell has been knocked out. He doesn’t remember the incident at all. He has a suspected broken jaw. Luke Rolls wasn’t knocked out. He has some pain. Hopefully it is nothing serious, but they are both going to Royal Brisbane.”

It was later reported that Speers has a broken nose and a broken jaw. Rolls is reported to have suffered a broken ankle.

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