Jockey falls from horse and crashes into turf at Geraldton’s Melbourne Cup race meet

A jockey competing in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup Day meet at Geraldton Turf Club has fallen off their horse and been taken to hospital for observation.

Angela Johnston, who won the Leinster Cup in October, was riding horse What Planet You On when she crashed into the turf about 200m past the finishing post in race number 3.

Johnston, thought to be from Bunbury, lay on the ground motionless for a short time before she was put on a stretcher and escorted into an ambulance.

A St John Ambulance spokesperson said a woman in her 20s has been taken to Geraldton Regional Hospital in a stable condition.

It is understood she didn’t suffer any major injuries from the fall.

Tuesday’s incident follows a sickening accident at the Kalgoorlie races on Saturday, where apprentice jockey Hannah Fitzgerald was flown to Royal Perth Hospital with bleeding on the brain after she hit the ground hard in race six.

She was left unconscious and subsequently placed in an induced coma in Perth, but has since shown “positive signs” of recovery.

Racing and Wagering Western Australia chief executive Ian Edwards said on Monday that the organisation was offering support to Fitzgerald’s family and to fellow jockeys who rushed to her aid.