{"id":549953,"date":"2026-03-19T06:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/549953\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T06:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:08:11","slug":"coroner-probes-french-jockey-marina-morels-death-at-gulgong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/549953\/","title":{"rendered":"Coroner probes French jockey Marina Morel’s death at Gulgong"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trainer of a horse involved in a track work fall that killed an apprentice French jockey has denied suggestions the animal was not fit to run.<\/p>\n

Marina Morel, 30, was riding track work for trainer Brett Thompson at the Gulgong Turf Club on February 8, 2022.<\/p>\n

The mare she was riding, Lina’s Choice, collapsed, throwing her over its head.<\/p>\n

She was flown to Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, but died four days later.<\/p>\n

“She loved horses, she was never scared,” Mr Thompson said as he gave evidence to a coronial inquest today.<\/p>\n

Loading…Vet’s advice ignored<\/p>\n

The inquest was told that following the fall, Lina’s Choice was euthanased and a post-mortem exam was conducted.<\/p>\n

Counsell Assisting the Coroner, David Kell, told the court in his opening statement that the horse injured its right front leg in March 2021, and returned to training five and a half months earlier than a recommendation given by a veterinarian.<\/p>\n

But Mr Thompson told the court there was “no rule in racing that the horse had to be out that long”.<\/p>\n

“It was always up to us [as] trainer when we thought the horse was right to come back to work,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Thompson said Lina’s Choice was “perfect” while rehabilitating on his farm.<\/p>\n

“When there is sign of an issue, I never hesitate to call a vet,” he said.\"Entry<\/p>\n

Marina Morel started as an apprentice jockey at BKB Racing in 2021. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Equine chiropractor Gary Christou examined Lina’s Choice six days before the tragedy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He noted some stiffness in the pectoral chest area and made a recommendation to monitor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Christou told the court that at the time, he was not aware of a stress fracture in the animal’s left front leg, otherwise he would have demanded a scan of the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“My job is not only to look after the safety of the horses but also the people,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If anyone knew she had a stress fracture, that area would have been scanned before work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That is a potential for disaster.”<\/p>\n

Dr Christou told the inquest Mr Thompson followed his advice “99.9 out of 100 times to the letter”.<\/p>\n

\"Jockey<\/p>\n

French jockey Marina Morel riding track work in Australia. (Supplied: Facebook)<\/p>\n

Former stablehand Sarah Connell told the inquest she recalled a foreman making a comment following the fatal fall that the horse “shouldn’t have been working”.<\/p>\n

But Ms Connell said she believed what happened was a tragic accident.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think anyone is to blame,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Marina Morel had a special connection with horses. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The inquest heard Marina Morel was known in racing circles as a “good horsewoman” who showed strong intuition with horses.<\/p>\n

She had come to Australia in 2014 to pursue her dream of becoming a professional jockey.<\/p>\n

Her parents have followed the proceedings each day via live stream from France, staying up all night to follow the evidence presented.<\/p>\n

“Different time zones, no doubt, make what is already a difficult process more challenging,” Deputy Stater Coroner Derek Lee said.<\/p>\n

Her mother shed tears when a video was shown of Ms Morel riding a horse during training.<\/p>\n

The inquest continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trainer of a horse involved in a track work fall that killed an apprentice French jockey has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,272052,30765,22138,272051,23237,37795,272049,272050,85],"class_list":["post-549953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brett-thompson","tag-coroner","tag-fall","tag-gulgong-turf-club","tag-horse-racing","tag-inquest","tag-jockey-death","tag-marina-morel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}