Fatal fall at Brighton leaves horse dead, jockey hospitalized

Virtue Chastity was lost after a heavy fall in the Fairplay Daily Price Boosts Handicap at Brighton Racecourse, and 18-year-old apprentice Jack Dace was taken to hospital after being thrown in the incident. The three-year-old filly, trained by Amanda Perrett, clipped heels about four furlongs from the finish in the 1m2f, 10-furlong race and came down hard, bringing down Gretna Dreams and jockey Ashley Lewis as well.

Dace was taken away by ambulance for assessment after the fall on Sunday, 21 June 2026. Initial reports said he was conscious and talking, but his family later said he had been knocked unconscious and appeared to have escaped serious injury, with scans showing no major issues. Luke Dace, his father, later said the teenager would remain under observation.

The damage to Virtue Chastity was far worse. Brighton clerk of the course Jack Hastings said the filly suffered a fractured shoulder and was euthanised after the incident. Hastings also described the fall as the worst he had seen in person, underlining the force of the crash and the speed at which a mid-race mistake can turn catastrophic.

Gretna Dreams and Ashley Lewis were reported to have walked away unscathed, but the episode has already sharpened attention on race safety at Brighton. A clipped heel about four furlongs from home is the sort of split-second event that racing cannot fully eliminate, yet the aftermath raises familiar questions about how riders are positioned in a field, how quickly interference can cascade through the pack, and what officials review after a serious fall.

For Brighton, the next focus is the same one that follows any major incident like this: the condition of the track, the circumstances that led to the fall, and the steps taken once a horse and rider go down. This was not a minor mishap or a clean, isolated tumble. It was a violent chain reaction in a 1m2f handicap that left one horse dead, one jockey hospitalized, and racing once again confronting the sport’s hard edge.