Popular Jockey Dies After Being Trampled By Horse In Horrific Accident

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Popular Japanese jockey Taiki Yanagida, known as 'Tiger,' has died after suffering a number of injuries during a horse race in New Zealand last week. Yanagida was just 28 years old.

Yanagida fell off of his horse, Te Atatu Pash, early in a race at Cambridge Jockey Club last Wednesday. He lost his helmet in the fall and was rolled on by his own horse before being trampled on by another, according to the New Zealand Herald. The horse that trampled him reportedly struck him in the back.

He was transferred to a local hospital and placed into an induced coma with serious spinal and brain injuries. On Tuesday, he passed away as a result of his injuries suffered in the accident.

Yanagida rode over 160 winners during his racing career in New Zealand, including 42 last year. He was the first jockey to die from a race fall in New Zealand since 2016.










“He was such a wonderful young man,” Ted McLachlan, his racing manager told the Herald. “It really is a tragedy and so hard to watch what his mother and sister here have had to go through."


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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.