The Death of Bradley Rollins

I'll postpone part II of 'is y a derby prospect' to comment this day on the tragic death of Bradley Rollins. The Blood Horse article reported the accident with the simple statment that Bradley Rollins was killed this date resulting from a training accident at his farm just 18 miles north of Phoenix, AZ involving a young horse. Rollins was 65 years old, a trainer and former jockey, and present president of the Arizona Thoroughbred Assn. He is also the son of Lyman Rollins, a noted trainer, still going strong at age 85. The article deigned to state how the accident occurred.

I never new Bradley Rollins, though I saw Lyman Rollins in the saddling paddock on many an occasion at Ak-Sar-Ben in the early 1980s. Lyman was a noted trainer who yearly had a string in Nebraska, and made an impression with his dressing classical cowboy formal-- cowboy boots and hat with white shirt and western tie.

So, some familiarity here, but mainly this sort of thing strikes a little to uncomfortably close to home. Young horse, farm accident--I visualized Rollins, a former jockey getting thrown and kicked, or maybe dragged or fallen on or any of the variety of nightmare scenarios that may occur around horses--the article ommitted the details. Let's be straight--anybody involved in training race horses is engaging in an extreme sport. We all know this. We keep our sanity by placing the potential danger in its appropriate place in our consciousness, which is out of sight, out of mind, and straight ahead with whatever you have to do. I'll state plainly that the business takes a little guts from everyone involved, and when i found out on The Final Turn Forum site that the accident happened much less exotically than I had supposed, it merely reinforced this simple premise. Rollins had a horse in cross ties and was kicked by that horse and killed instantly according to someone that knows. He was neither on the horse or doing anything actively with the animal. Probably got careless and walked behind it, maybe the youngster had yet to be sufficiently trained to cross ties. I'm supposing the former jockey's head (as all jockeys) is perfect height kicking distance for an agitated horse, and so, as in all accidents undoubtedly carelessness of some sort from the human handler. Were Rollins alive that is what he would say--in the words of Goethe: "the luckless creature, he would hold it fast." I have sympathy for Rollins, whom I never met, and his family, and yet this day is a good reminder to me to stay "on guard". My own philosophy in handling horses is never to take any chance--though hardly possible in a 100% sense, but, extreme care can really reduce the odds of something untoward occurring, as it did this date...

11/22/06 Y Training: 15 min riderless work in the paddock--increased the number of furlongs for each heat from 3 to 6--3f one direction then 3 the other at a very slow gallop--lope with about 30 sec rest between heats for 15 min total. also through in a couple of half furlong spurts for fast twitch work. Today was different for today was the first day I have seen some signficant speed from this youngster.