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A cruel chain of circumstances led to the fall that killed apprentice Willy Kan Wai-yue.

 The last moments leading to the tragic accident were shown to the media by the Hong Kong Jockey Club yesterday, with graphic descriptions coming from leading trainer Patrick Biancone and former international riding star Tony Cruz.

 Shown on a giant screen with slow motion and close-ups, the sickening fall which less than three hours later claimed the life of the 20-year-old, silenced the room of over 100 media personnel and Jockey Club staff.

 Depicted in chilling clarity was the crucial moment when Happy King, ridden by Kan, clipped the back heels of the horse in front, the Steven King-ridden Big Fortune.

 Biancone, in his ninth season in Hong Kong and trainer of two Arc de Triomphe winners, said: 'Clipping heels is not unusual but what happened afterwards here is.

 'It is about synchronisation of horses' legs. She was very close to the horse in front but even then, it need not have had these consequences. As long as her horse's front legs were going forward as the back legs of Big Fortune were doing the same, there is no problem.

 'Even if her horse's legs are in between the back legs of the other one, it is no problem. Even then if her lead leg does not strike the back leg, maybe there is a stumble and her horse recovers.

 'But the catastrophe is when she directly gallops on to the back legs, then the horse stumbles badly or comes down.

 'She was too close but nothing serious might still have happened if it had not occurred in just this way,' Biancone said.

 Cruz, who rode with success around the world before returning to Hong Kong and eventually becoming a highly successful trainer, said: 'You can see that she was trying to hang on to the horse's neck when it began to go.

 'But then the bridle and the blinkers come off its head. They go one way and she goes the other,' said Cruz.

 There was still a real chance that the young apprentice could have survived - as many others in a similar situation have done.

 Explained Biancone: 'When jockeys hit the ground in this sort of situation they roll. If they are rolling forward, it will continue for a little time.

 'If the horses immediately following behind actually strike the jockey then, it need not be a big problem. Like a football, their legs will strike a moving body but keep on propelling it. It is over in an instant and usually the jockey is okay or maybe bruised.

 'But the ones following behind her here were just a few strides too far back and the girl had stopped rolling and was inert. So it was force striking an inanimate object. The injuries then had to be very serious.'  Biancone and Cruz were joined by trainer Wong Tang-ping and jockeys Basil Marcus, Eddie W. M. Lai and Eric Legrix, while chief stipendiary steward Clinton P. Pitts Jnr and steward S. B. Kam took the media through the race, plus those involving horses Joy Mass and Primo, who were put down after breaking legs.

 Biancone and Marcus, speaking officially for the Trainers' Association and the Jockeys' Association, said the Sha Tin track had no bearing on Kan's fall.

 Patrol films from races five and seven showed that both Joy Mass and Primo's legs had snapped some strides before they actually fell - and both associations' representatives again stated that the Sha Tin track was not to blame.

 Said Biancone: 'I have been here nine years and we probably get four or so horses breaking a leg during a race every season. If both had not happened on the same day - along with the girl being killed - it would hardly have been mentioned.

 'It is unfortunate but we all know that these things happen in racing. Fortunately, fatal accidents do not happen often.'  Visiting grass expert Ian Chivers explained why horses were slipping at Sha Tin before huge remedial work this week.

 'There were abnormal weather conditions existing up to the meeting with high humidity and a warm winter which saw winter and summer grass grow rapidly.

 'This provided the lush cushion and when light rain or drizzle fell, it merely lay on top of the surface. It was a cushion of water lying on top of the soil layer below.

 'That produced the surface on which horses could and did slip. It was simply a unique occurrence,' stressed the Australian-born expert, who is consultant to the Victoria Racing Club and the New South Wales racing body.



Kan's last moments recalled