Westport farewells jockey Ashlee Mundy
A popular Westport jockey has been remember by friends and family as ‘‘the best girl on the planet’’.
Several hundred people gathered to farewell 26-yearold Ashlee Marie Mundy in her hometown of Westport yesterday.
The successful jockey died in Dunedin Hospital on December 31 after suffering serious head injuries when her horse fell at the Kurow races two days earlier.
Mundy was recently a freelance jockey at the Gold Coast Turf Club, where she was expected to return in February.
She had been in New Zealand to ride on the South Island summer circuit and had spent Christmas Day with her family in Westport for the first time in about 10 years, her father Lockey Mundy said at yesterday’s service at the Solid Energy Centre.
He described his daughter as ‘‘the best girl on the planet’’.
She was a ‘‘steady, but not spectacular’’ pupil at Westport North primary and Buller High School, but excelled at sport, particularly swimming and cross-country running.
He spoke of spending Christmas Day with his daughter and he was unable to recall his last words to her. ‘‘I probably said something like ‘drive safely’ because deep down I thought possibly the risk of getting hurt on the roads was going to be much higher than having an accident on the tracks.’’
Her former Canterbury employer Michael Pitman delivered Mundy’s eulogy, saying the young jockey was ‘‘like a daughter, a sister . . . and a friend to my family and I’’.
Mundy moved to Christchurch in 2004 as Pitman’s apprentice and had her first success in her first race ride in Oamaru.
‘‘There was a lot of proud people in Oamaru that day. She wasn’t an overnight success . . . but she was a bloody good rider, she was.’’
Cousin Sjaan Greig said Mundy was ‘‘the leader of every pack’’.
‘‘She was the fearless one, always up for a challenge. You couldn’t help but let that confidence rub off on you, when you’re with Ash you always felt bulletproof.’’
A tribute was also read on behalf of Mundy’s favourite band – Kiwi group Six60. The band planned to dedicate their concert in Tauranga last night to the fallen jockey.