The racing community of Malton and Norton will come to a halt this week to pay its final respects to one of its own.

Jamie Kyne, the 18-year-old former star apprentice at John Quinn’s Highfield yard, will have a funeral mass and Thanksgiving service at St Leonard and St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Malton at 11am on Thursday before his body is flown home to Ireland for a second funeral service and burial in his native Galway.

Poignantly, he is to be laid to rest wearing the colours he wore when riding Ishetoo, trained by Allan Dickman and owned by John Sissons, to the biggest success of his career, in a major sprint handicap at York at the end of May.

His body will be received into St Leonard and St Mary’s Church at 6pm on Wednesday evening for a short service of prayers, to which everyone is invited to attend.

Quinn and his son, Sean, will lead the team of pallbearers, which will also include Highfield’s number-one jump jockey Dougie Costello, taking Kyne to the church.

Once there, six Flat jockeys, all colleagues and friends of Kyne, will carry him down the aisle. The six will comprise Paul Hanagan, Tom Eaves, Paul Mulrennan, Graham Gibbons, Barry McHugh and Freddie Tylicki.

The shock and sheer tragedy of what happened in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, September 5, when a fire ripped through a block of flats in Norton and left Kyne and 19-year-old Jan Wilson – a fellow apprentice with Thirsk trainer David Barron – dead, has had a deep and profound effect, not only on the Ryedale racing fraternity, but much further afield.

Among those who have sent flowers to be laid at the scene of the accident are two of the weighing room’s biggest names: Kieren Fallon, the former champion Flat jockey, and Tony McCoy, the greatest jump jockey National Hunt has ever known.

Throughout the whole ghastly business, the thoughts and prayers of everyone have gone out to the families of the two teenage victims. Jamie’s father, Gerard, his mother, Madaline, brothers, Francis, Jason, Brandan and Daniel, and sister Cassandra will all attend the Malton service. Family flowers only are requested, with donations going to the Malton Fire Appeal fund.

It goes without saying that there is scarcely a church big enough anywhere within 50 miles to comfortably accommodate all who will want to pay their respects this week to Jamie Kyne.

Apart from his exceptional riding ability and abundant promise in the saddle, he was a hugely popular person, his sharp sense of humour, infectious laugh and bubbly personality earning him a large legion of friends wherever he went.

That Kyne was on his way to the big time is no exaggeration.

His career – his life – was way too short, but it is startling to think he rode in races for no fewer than 113 different trainers. In total, he had 454 mounts and rode 38 winners, a whopping 29 of which had come this season; a tally which placed him third in Britain’s apprentice championship behind his good friend, Norton-based Tylicki, and David Probert.

While the Injured Jockeys’ Fund is giving financial and emotional support to the families of Kyne and Wilson, last week at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting, Racing Welfare launched a fundraising initiative for victims of the fire.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the fund can do so by sending a cheque, made payable to Racing Welfare, to the charity’s office at 5B Commercial Street, Norton, Malton, YO17 9HX.

Any donations from mourners on Thursday – when family flowers only are requested – will also go towards the fund.

Details of Jan Wilson’s funeral, which will take place in her native Scotland, have yet to be announced.


THE last farewell to Jamie Kyne before he leaves Ryedale will be a tearful affair.

The Highfield yard where he worked has been a sad place since his passing. “It’s not been easy for anybody. All our thoughts and prayers are with Jamie’s family at this time,” said trainer John Quinn, adding: “My thanks go to everyone who has supported us, in so many different ways, and my thanks also go to my staff who have kept everything going like clockwork in very difficult circumstances.”

That the young apprentice with the mile-wide smile and the ability to ride like a demon had made such an impact on so many people is a fact not lost on his boss.

“The one thing I will say,” said Quinn, “is that Jamie Kyne will never, ever, be forgotten here.”