Sister of beauty queen who collapsed at Michael Owen's stables breaks her silence on Jessica Whalley's tragic death
5 June 2023, 18:29
The sister of a staff member who collapsed and died at Michael Owen's horse racing stables has spoken out for the first time.
Jessica Whalley, who was a senior member of the travelling staff at the ex-footballer's Manor House Stables, collapsed while riding out a horse on March 28.
Colleagues carried out CPR until the emergency services arrived, but despite the best efforts of paramedics, she died aged 25.
Her half-sister Leonna Mayor, who is a jockey and TV presenter, said Ms Whalley is believed to have suffered a heart attack.
She said: "She was very young and I feel the pain of my grandmother and aunt who were very close to her.
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"As far as we know, she cantered up the gallop on the first lot, got to the top and had a cardiac arrest."They tried to resuscitate her for 30 minutes but they couldn't bring her back. She has since had a post-mortem and nothing has shown up.
"We assumed that something would come to light, a heart defect or something we didn't know was there, but it hasn't.
"We now have to wait for the blood tests - it's six to 12 weeks for full blood works."
Ms Mayor, 32, shared a father with Ms Whalley, and said that they were not very close.
She added: "But I felt a really weird sad emptiness really, not being close to her or having a relationship for the last few years."
Mr Owen who was reportedly in tears with the rest of the team on the day of the tragedy later opened up on the incident, and paid tribute to Ms Whalley and the ambulance staff who attended to her.
Speaking to Sky Sports Racing, he said: “It was a tragic incident that could have happened at any time. Nothing can really prepare you for something like that.
“A young girl who was supremely talented at what she did, who was massively popular, a real important member of the yard, the staff and everything else."
He continued: “Lots of people will be out there feeling the same thing. They will have lost somebody close to them or family member of whatever it is. What words can you say to describe it?
“Being there and being part of the whole day with the ambulance staff, who were amazing. Having to come down and tell 40 or her friends what’s happened and things like that, what can you say? It was the worst day of my life.”
Mr Owen's trainer Hugo Palmer said last month that Ms Whalley coming back from the gallops on a three-year-old filly she had ridden out when she collapsed out of the saddle.
“Jess had worked the horse, pulled up at the top of the gallop and was then returning to a trot, then a walk,” he said. “Jess slipped limply off the horse and didn’t move.
He added: “She died doing a job that she appeared to love and was certainly very good at. She was exceptionally capable.”
Speaking shortly after the incident, Alison Samuel, a friend of Ms Whalley's who used to work with her at another stables in Suffolk said: "I just couldn't believe it - we loved her dearly.
"She was such a lovely girl who really enjoyed her job. She was popular - everyone liked her and she was a lovely young woman."
Ms Whalley represented the UK in the MTV-screened Miss Tourism Universe pageant in Lebanese capital Beirut in 2019 and finished in the top ten.
