October 28, 2014
Recent racing tragedies have left former jockey Kristy Banks counting her blessings.
“Carly-Mae Pye and Caitlin (Forrest) … it makes me feel I was lucky,” Kristy said in Kingaroy on Saturday.
Kristy was left a paraplegic after a race fall on New Year’s Eve 2011.
She was aboard August Bishop in the Brisbane Riverview Hotel Handicap at Toowoomba when her mount clipped the heels of another horse and came tumbling down.
Stewards ruled the fall “was in no way attributable to any horse or rider error but rather was the result of an accident which unfortunately occurs in racing from time to time”.
August Bishop suffered some bruises but Kristy came off much worse. She had spinal injuries, broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Anyone would think that would be enough to put Kristy off riding, but as soon as she could, she was back in the saddle – taking up the sport of barrel racing.
“I love riding and I’m a very competitive person,” she told southburnett.com.au
The only break she has had since she took up barrel racing in 2012 was when she became pregnant.
But after the birth of her son, she was soon back in the saddle.
Kristy was in Kingaroy to compete at the National Barrel Horse Association’s Double Jackpot event held at Kingaroy Showground.
She was full of praise for her horse, Bob, who almost knows his own way around a barrel racing course,
“He’s a really good horse. He’s only eight. I bought him from a lady who used to barrel race,” she said.
Watching Kristy ride, it’s difficult to see she has a handicap. The only give aways are the straps just below her knees.
Event organiser Mel Organ-Moore said this was the first time barrel racing had been held in Kingaroy for many years.
There were entries from all over south-east Queensland: 46 in the Open, 20 in the Juniors, 20 in the pole-bending, 10 in the 5-10 age category and five tiny tots.
For the record, Kristy did her round of the course in 17.537 sec, a more-than-respectable time.
Footnote: In a tragic period for Australian racing, four female jockeys have been killed in racing-related accidents over the past year – Simone Montgomerie (Darwin, August 2013); Desiree Gill (Sunshine Coast, November 2013), Carly-Mae Pye (Rockhampton, October 2014) and Caitlin Forrest (Murray Bridge, October 2014).
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