How Many Jockeys Die A Year? (Is It A Lot?)

I was out at the races with a few friends the other day, and there was a bit of an accident during one of the races.

Everyone turned out to be okay, although the jockey seemed a little bit turned around.

But everyone was relieved no one was seriously injured.

It did spark a conversation among us, though, about how dangerous this sport must be; we all wondered how many jockeys must die a year.

None of us were sure, so I decided to look into it.

So, how many jockeys die a year?

The actual answer is very few. Estimates put the average at about 1.77 jockeys per year—if such a division of a person existed. Around 100 jockeys have died during a race since 1950, and though there are some years worse than others, nowadays very few jockeys die during races.

So, though horse racing is certainly very dangerous, it may not be as dangerous as it once was.

Better safety measures and medical attention mean that injuries are less often fatal.

That said, it’s still a perilous sport for the jockey.

Let’s look further into this question.

How many jockeys have died from racing?

National bodies for regulating horse racing do not share data on this question, so it’s difficult to get a global answer.

Let’s use the US as an example.

There is a bit of a deficit of information in general with this question, but we can get an idea.

The Jockey’s Guild of North America estimates that 100 riders have died as a result of accidents on the racetrack since 1950.

Five of those deaths occurred between 1988 and 1991.

Deaths account for less than 1% of all injuries sustained while riding, but they do still occur.

So, in the millions upon millions of races that have happened in that time, the number 100 gives you a rough idea of how low the death count has been, even in the past.

It is even lower now.

But this is far from suggesting that being a jockey is completely safe.

Even with a very low risk of actually dying, you still stand a reasonable chance of sustaining a serious injury.

How many jockeys are injured each year?

Again, looking at the US, we can turn to the data collected by the Jockeys’ Guild to get an idea of the injury rates of jockeys.

The Guild receives notifications of about 2,500 injuries every year.

This accounts for more or less any injury which puts a jockey out of the game for a while.

On average, jockeys are unable to race due to injury around 3 times a year.

Of those injuries, in one year, 37 jockeys were permanently disabled by spinal injuries or head trauma.

So, though the counts of deaths might be low, the counts of paralyzing injury were unfortunately very high.

Injuries are very common, and as you can imagine, can be devastating; so, just how dangerous is being a jockey?

How dangerous is being a jockey?

Well, there are many factors to consider.

The simple answer, though, is that being a jockey is very dangerous.

You only need to look at the data I’ve so far shared.

How dangerous a job is isn’t determined just by whether or not you have a high chance of dying on the job—just how high your chances of being injured are.

First of all, consider how high up the jockeys are on horseback—not to mention the fact that they are, without exception, small and light, which can make the falls worse.

Falling from that height, even from a stationary horse, could seriously injure you.

Then, add the high speed and frenzied, sprinting horses of a race.

If a jockey is lucky enough to be at the back when they fall off, they will still be flung from a speeding horse to hit the ground hard.

If they are in front of other horses, they stand a considerable chance of being trampled and killed.

There is no two ways about it, then. however slim your odds of actually dying may be, your chances of being injured or even paralyzed are quite high.

Being a jockey is no easy job, then. So, how long do they typically live?

What is the average lifespan of a jockey?

Again, there’s very little definite data on this.

Most databases do not provide the year that jockeys were born, or how old they are.

However, you can work out an estimate based on a few factors.

For one thing, like most sports, jockeys usually start quite young, around age 16—and don’t race much beyond around 50.

So, a jockey’s average lifespan is around 65-75.

This isn’t much different from the typical average in many places, although certainly can be a bit lower in some cases—particularly if the jockey was injured a lot over the course of their career. In these cases, they will typically live for a shorter period.

So, while by no means the most dangerous sport around, it certainly is a very dangerous sport, compared with others.

Deaths during races have been massively reduced, but they do still occur, though very rarely.

Like all other sports, horse racing has become much more heavily regulated over the last century, and this has made accidents less likely to happen.

Nonetheless, accidents do happen, and sometimes they can be fatal in ways no one can do anything about.