Steve Yarborough: death of stalls handler to be remembered a year on at Haydock

Emotions will run high at Haydock on Saturday night as the track commemorates the stalls handler killed a year ago.

Steve Yarborough, from Great Habton in North Yorkshire, was involved in an accident with the stalls before the running of the fourth race on July 21, 2017 and he died from his injuries.

The Steve Yarborough Memorial Handicap is the fourth race on the card, a ten-furlong contest - as was the race in which the 60-year-old suffered his fatal injuries on the Friday of last year's two-day meeting.

Steve Hardy (left) and Jason Fildes are among those who will be remembering Steve YarboroughCredit: David Carr

Haydock general manager Jason Fildes said on Friday: "All the family are coming tomorrow, including his son Christopher and Steven's grandchildren, as guests of the course.

"The stalls handlers who were here that day have specifically asked to be here tomorrow."

A similar event was held at Hamilton on Thursday, and Fildes added: "It will be an emotional day for all of us.

"We're thrilled they're all coming and it's the least we can do. It was our worst day. It was a horribly tragic accident."

Means plenty

Steve Hardy, who has been a stalls handler for a quarter of a century and was part of the team working with Yarborough on the fateful day last year, welcomed the staging of the race, which is set to become an annual event.

"It means a lot," he said. "We couldn't have asked for a better response from the course. It was a terrible day last year, unbelievably so. And he was a top man, you couldn't get any better."

Hamilton to honour stalls handler Stephen Yarborough with memorial race

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