Darwin Cup jockey death inquest begins

The death of a young jockey on the Northern Territory's most significant race day was shocking and unexpected, an inquest has heard.

Simone Montgomerie, 26, was an experienced and well-respected jockey who fell from her horse in the last 200m of race six of the Darwin Cup last August.

Although it is widely accepted her horse baulked, causing the fall, a inquest will investigate what regulations and safety standards are in place to prevent such accidents happening again.

"Simone was an excellent rider; it took a lot to unseat her," counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, said in her opening address on Monday.

"She was doing what she loved and that passion translated to her professionalism on the field."

Ms Montgomerie had competed in race one without incident, was leading in the closing stretch of race six and travelling about 65 km/h when her horse, Riahgrand, shied to the left near a public crossing leading from the car park to the on-field marquees.

Paramedics were there in seconds but she was already unconscious and pronounced dead on arrival at Royal Darwin Hospital due to internal chest injuries.

"There is some evidence that Riahgrand was a horse with a nervous disposition, easily spooked, and that might have been why he baulked," Ms Dwyer said, although veterinary testing found nothing physically wrong.

There were four crossings on the track at the Fannie Bay racecourse, and the inquest will examine their location and safety.

"At the time of Simone's death the NT was the only jurisdiction that did not have standardised guidelines for track maintenance but that doesn't mean it wasn't maintained," Ms Dwyer said.

Jockeys raised concerns about the crossing in 2010 and 2011 but they appeared to have been dealt with and there were no known worries in 2013, she said.

There are no industry standards about the placement of track crossings but it is a generally accepted view that they are located where horses are at their slowest, Ms Dwyer said.

The inquest heard that less than a month after her death the type of safety vest Ms Montgomerie was wearing was suspended by the Australian Racing Board for failing to meet standards.

"Pathologist Terry Sinton will say that a better vest might have mitigated her chest injuries but she still would have been severely injured by the fall," Ms Dwyer said.

The inquest continues.