Nina: You can’t escape dangers of horseracing
Ex-jockey’s shock at Jack’s death
RETIRED jockey Nina Carberry told of her shock at the death of Henry De Bromhead’s son saying you can’t escape the dangers of the sport.
The tragic 13-year-old died after he suffered a fall from a pony during a beach race in the Glenbeigh Festival in Kerry earlier this month.
Nina, who returns to our screens as a coach on Ireland’s Fittest Family this Sunday on RTE One, said: “So sad. You can’t get away from the dangers of the sport and that’s the reality of it.”
When asked about getting her daughters into racing, Nina said: “I will never say no to them. I’m sure my mum, Pamela, was the same.
“She probably didn’t want me to do it, but horse racing was all I wanted to do.
“I’m never going to stop the girls, even if I wish that they did something else.”
The 38-year-old Dancing With The Stars champion admitted she got down when she retired from racing in 2018 after the Punchestown Racing Festival.
She told the RTE Guide: “Racing was my life and now that was missing.
“I was trying to find my way again and at the time I didn’t have my business set up properly.
“I was ready to retire because I had Rosie and she was my focus, but when the business isn’t going as well as you want it, you definitely get down about things.
“You’re in such a high adrenaline sport for so long and when you retire, you really miss it and get very down.” Nina also opened up about her own racing legend father Tommy, who died in 2017. She said she brought her newborn daughter Rosie to see him before he passed away.
Nina added: “Dad had dementia and suffered a good bit towards the end, but at least now I can tell Rosie that she got to hold his hand before he passed.”