KEN Dooley, a groom working for trainer Amanda Perrett, was kicked in the head at the racecourse stables at Kempton last Saturday and tragically died before he could be transferred to hospital.

In his fifties and a popular member of the Perrett team, Dooley appears to have covered the better part of a 100 yards following the incident. The rest of the card was abandoned, with those close to the groom in deep shock.

This was the second racecourse death this year after the incident at Haydock in July resulting in the loss of stalls handler Stephen Yarborough.

Fond farewell for Buckley

FORMER jumps jockey Seamus Buckley, whose team performed a near-miracle by making Goodwood fit for racing after a mini-monsoon on the second day of the ‘Glorious’ meeting, retired at 65 last Sunday.

A very unassuming and popular clerk of the course, he officiated for 23 years and was given a guard of honour by jockeys riding at the final meeting.

Buckley regularly produced one of the best racing surfaces in the country, a point not lost on the riders.

The new clerk is Ed Arkell.