Hugo Palmer and Manor House team 'devastated' over death of staff member Jess Whalley

Trainer Hugo Palmer has spoken for the first time about how he, Michael Owen and the entire team at Manor House Stables are "completely devastated" over the death of key staff member Jess Whalley at the Cheshire yard on Tuesday.

Despite the best efforts of his staff members, who performed CPR on the 25-year-old until a doctor and paramedics arrived, nothing could be done to save the senior travelling employee, who may have suffered a suspected heart attack while riding out at first lot.

Family members, including Jess's father who lives in nearby Nantwich, were at the Malpas yard on Thursday trying to come to terms with a loss that has been felt deeply at such a close-knit establishment.

Hugo Palmer: "It's all incredibly sad"Credit: Alan Crowhurst

Palmer said of Tuesday morning's events: "It's all incredibly sad as it came completely from out of the blue. Jess had shown no signs of distress and her family are completely devastated and so is every member of the team here."

Palmer, who moved to the purpose-built facility in Cheshire around a year ago, added: "The team here who got to her first and performed CPR did an absolutely amazing job and the medical professionals were quick to praise those involved. The four paramedics were amazing and two of them were only Jess's age or younger. They were unbelievably professional, but you could see how devastated they were by the death at such an early stage of their careers."

He added: "Despite everyone's best efforts, unfortunately, and tragically, nothing could be done to save her. Until there has been a post mortem, the cause of death can't be certain, but it appears she died on top of the horse and when the filly came to a halt she slid to the floor."

Palmer's employer, former England and Liverpool striker Owen, was among those to witness the distressing scenes. The trainer said: "Michael was on his way to the yard for second lot when it happened and he was there and he was involved. He's close to everyone at Manor House so was in tears like the rest of us."

Whalley first joined Palmer two years ago when he was based at Kremlin Cottage Stables in Newmarket, having worked for William Haggas and Sir Michael Stoute in the town before.

Palmer said: "Jess had been with me for a few years, first in Newmarket where she had started to go racing for us. She thought long and hard about moving up here with us early last year and stayed in Newmarket initially before joining up with us a couple of months later. She'd been up here for eight or nine months and had come up in a senior travelling position."

Of the reaction to her death, he added: "We've had so many messages from owners who she'd spent time with at the races just saying what a wonderful, lovely girl she was. She'd really grown into her new role. She was only 25 but you could see she was really thriving in it and had become an adult if you like. She was very good at her job and she died doing the job she loved."

On the aftermath of Whalley's death at Manor House Stables, Palmer said: "The strange thing is there is unity in adversity. The staff here have been fantastic and have really pulled together and put an arm around each other. We are only two days on and we've already discussed things that we're going to do in Jess's honour, probably involving a charity and we'll maybe sponsor a race.

"At the moment everyone is raw and grieving, but hopefully we can keep everyone together and get through it. Cheshire Police have been great and also Racing Welfare, they have excellent counsellors. It's easy to say what's wrong with racing, but when something like this happens you can see the awful lot that racing gets right."

Whalley's former Newmarket employers also remembered her fondly, including Stoute who said: "Jess was a very capable girl, a very good horsewoman and rode extremely well. She also did some travelling for us. What happened was an absolute tragedy."

Haggas also paid tribute, saying: "Jess rode out for us a few years ago before she joined Sir Michael. She was a lovely girl and it's a sad loss."

Racing Welfare's team are available 24/7 via Racing's Support Line on 0800 6300 443 or visit www.racingwelfare.co.uk.