Police have issued a statement following the sudden death of apprentice jockey Tommie Jakes, who died hours after his final ride at Nottingham Racecourse on Wednesday afternoon. The 19-year-old, who had 59 winners in just three seasons on the Flat, was found at an address in Freckenham, Suffolk. Suffolk Police said they were called by the ambulance service at 5.45am and that the death is not being treated as suspicious. A file will now be prepared for the coroner.
Tributes have poured in from across the racing community. Jockeys at racecourses have been wearing black armbands as a mark of respect, and a minute's silence was held at Chelmsford, where Jakes had been due to ride two mounts for trainer Ismail Mohammed. Fellow jockey Paul Mulrennan, who rode against Jakes on Wednesday, described him as 'a lovely lad' and 'always cheerful and polite'. He added: 'There's a very sombre mood in the weighing room tonight.'
Jakes was employed by Newmarket-based trainer George Boughey, for whom he rode his last winner, Fouroneohfever, at Catterick earlier this month. Boughey said: 'He was not only a hugely talented young rider with so much to look forward to, but an incredibly kind, popular and hard-working young man.' Another trainer, Linda Perratt, paid an emotional tribute, saying Jakes, whom she called 'TomTom', won on 17 of her runners. She wrote: 'The racing world lost a huge talent today. We lost a much loved friend.'
Jakes, who lived close to Newmarket, made 519 appearances on the track. Racing TV presenter Lydia Hislop said the 'sense of shock and grief here at the racecourse and around the town is palpable'. A minute's silence was also held at the town's fixture on Thursday afternoon in his memory.
