Jockey Dean Holland fighting for life after race fall

A jockey is fighting life after being thrown from his horse during a race meet in country Victoria.

Dean Holland, 34, was riding Headingley in the Leading Teams 3YO Maiden Plate (1000m) at Donald about 1.30pm on Monday when his horse ducked sharply and fell as the field neared the final straight.

Fellow jockey Alana Kelly then fell from her horse, Time To Rumble, which tripped over Headingley.

Kelly managed to walk away from the tumble, but Holland remained on the track and had to be treated by paramedics before they called for an air ambulance.

The Victorian Jockey‘s Association said Mr Holland’s injuries were “critical.”

It’s understood neither horse was injured in the incident.

Racenet reports the remainder of the day’s races were abandoned in the wake of the fall.

Twenty-four-year-old jockey Teo Nugent suffered a fractured neck when he fell from his horse at Moonee Valley racecourse on March 18.

That incident happened just a week after jockeys Jamie Kah and Craig Williams were injured in a fall at Flemington.

In 2019, 22-year-old jockey Mikaela Claridge was killed when her horse was spooked during training at Cranbourne.

Donald is located about 280 km northwest of Melbourne on the Sunraysia Hwy.