Hennenman tragedy recalled

Jack Milner

On 12 April it will be the 35th anniversary of a tragedy that rocked the South African racing world. A chartered Dakota aircraft transporting a number of jockeys and officials back from racing in Bloemfontein came down in a mielie field near Hennenman in the Free State.

All 24 lives were lost in that crash in a tragedy that had a profound effect on South African horseracing.  

The tragedy caused a pall over the whole country but especially the racing fraternity, who battled to absorb the shocking news. An air of disbelief pervaded race meetings for a number of weeks.

Many of those killed were jockeys under the age of 22 so a mass of riding talent was lost!

On Saturday, the lives of those jockeys, officials, owners, a trainer and the crew will be remembered at the memorial meeting at Turffontein Racecourse.

The sad irony of the disaster is that the meeting was scheduled to have taken place the previous week with the racing group booked to travel on a scheduled South African Airways flight.

However, when rain forced the postponement of the meeting, a plane was especially chartered to transport jockeys and officials to and from Bloemfontein.

The full list of people who lost their lives is:

Jockeys: Warren Baillie, Keith Basel, Michael Coetzee, Bennie de Wet, Johannes “Rooies” Fourie, Greg Holme, Danny Lombard, John McMurtry, Mark Nel, Simon Rahilly, Lawrence Riley, Douglas Roper, and Gordon Sterley.

Trainer: Hennie van Wyk.

Officials: Dave Bullock, Henry Havergall, Graham Kent, Ginger Masterton and Johannes van der Linden.

Owners: Neville Blignaut, Jacobus Viljoen.

Air Crew: Jacob Kalt, Harold Whitehead and Jacqueline Henderson.