(Rod Gallegos is a senior commentator with Sky Racing and Sky Sports Radio.)

Revered bush bard, Banjo Paterson, had a racy, sometimes humorous style but he also possessed a poignant pen. Earlier this week when a young jockey lost his fight for life after a fall at a country picnic meeting I was reminded of a Paterson poem, Only A Jockey.

The preface to this sad piece of prose read: "Richard Bennison, a jockey, aged 14, while riding William Tell in his training, was thrown and killed. The horse is luckily uninjured" - Melbourne Wire.

While the general attitude these days, thankfully, is much less heartless, it still is an inescapable fact that jockeys, and the dangers they regularly stare down, are not appreciated fully by a wider section of the community.

Reece Potter, 23, was the latest victim of a race fall. A track work rider and picnic meeting jockey because of his weight prohibited him being a professional jockey, Reece's family was faced with the heart-breaking decision of turning off his life support last Monday.

The young man had suffered multiple injuries when his mount crashed at the Tottenham picnic meeting in central west New South Wales.

It is a situation that happens all too often. Race falls, though, have become a fearful fact of life.

Small men weighing in the vicinity of 50 kilograms holding the reins attached to a 500-kilogram thoroughbred scampering at speeds of around 60kph is daunting to consider.

Tragically, the dangers only become apparent to the non-racing population when there is a fatality. All too often punters, talking through their pockets, laud the winners and lambast the losers. Few think about the perilous course these lithe, courageous men and women are forced confront on a daily basis.

As the final stanza of Banjo's poem reads:

Fourteen years old, and what was he taught of it
What did he know of God's infinite grace?
Draw the dark curtain of shame o'er the thought of it
Draw the shroud over the jockey-boy's face.

***** 

THE Golden Slipper, to be run on April 2, is currently dominated by Sepoy and he may well become an even hotter favourite if he scores convincingly at Rosehill on Saturday in the Todman Slipper Trial.

While it isn't unusual to have small fields in the two-year-old lead-up races it is disappointing that the Todman only has five runners and the Reisling Stakes for fillies has a field of six.

Nevertheless the clash of Sepoy and Foxwedge has a degree of intrigue. Both colts are unbeaten but Sepoy with four has the numeral edge on Foxwedge with only two starts to his credit.

Even though Sepoy has pleased trainer Peter Snowden in track work in the clockwise direction, he hasn't raced this way while Foxwedge has scored at Rosehill and Warwick Farm.

Adopting the adage of ‘odds-on, look on', Sepoy is ruled out for me so I'm tempted to have a financial ‘look' at Foxwedge instead.

The Clarry Conners-trained Satin Shoes looks to have a mortgage on the Reisling Stakes. She has been impressive in three wins to date and should be too good for her rivals on Saturday.

***** 

THERE would have to be similar disappointment about the composition of the $175,000 Canterbury Stakes - a mere five.

Undoubtedly the grand mare More Joyous may have frightened off the opposition but small fields tend to restrict betting activities.

While More Joyous probably looks unbeatable there will be a lot of focus on Rangirangdoo because he will be having his first run for almost 12 months. He has been off the scene since winning last year's Doncaster Handicap. Interestingly the six-year-old gelding has a good first-up record of a win, second and third from his three previous resumption runs.

***** 

AT LEAST the feature race, the $600,000 Coolmore Classic, has attracted a decent-sized field that includes plenty of chances.

Even though Aloha has a question mark over her from a clockwise racing point of view, I fancy the Victorian mare.

This four-year-old from the Mick Price stable has been in excellent form in Melbourne where she has won four straight, capped by a 1400-metre success at Flemington a fortnight ago when resuming from a break.

The irrepressible Glenn Boss, who guided her to victory last start, has retained the ride. Bossy has that happy knack of rising to the occasion in feature races.