Tributes to trainer’s daughter after she dies from virus at 24

Jessica Bethell, the daughter and assistant of well-known trainer James, was flown to hospital by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance after she was found unconscious at the family home close to Middleham on Tuesday afternoon.

The 24-year-old had been out riding earlier that day, but had gone for a lie-down after complaining of feeling unwell with flu-like symptoms.

Her mother, Sally, spoke of the family’s heartache after her daughter had lost her fight for life at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough yesterday morning.

It is understood a post-mortem examination revealed Miss Bethell’s death was linked to a virus she contracted, although medical tests are continuing.

Mrs Bethell paid tribute to the efforts of the hospital’s staff as well as the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s paramedics who were called to the family’s home at Thorngill, near Middleham, on Tuesday afternoon.

She added: “She was such an amazing, precious daughter, with such a future and loved her racing, we are truly devastated. She had masses of friends throughout racing on both the flat, jumping, in and out the weighing room and jockeys – too many to mention.

“It was so sudden as she had ridden out two lots on Tuesday morning and had only mentioned flu-like symptoms. No-one can quite believe what has happened.”

Mrs Bethell told the Yorkshire Post that her daughter had been a “good judge from the word go” with horses, although her fledgling riding career was cut short after she had been plagued by knee injuries.

Miss Bethell’s “natural ability” led her to become an assistant trainer alongside her father, 
who she worked with for the last decade after she had begun 
riding out on the gallops at the age of 14.

Another of Middleham’s trainers, Mark Johnston, is a family friend and spoke to Mr Bethell, 60, who is the son of the late Lord Westbury and also has a son, Edward, and two other daughters, Clare and Lucinda, on Tuesday evening.

Mr Johnston, who has trained more than 100 winners over 17 consecutive seasons, has known the family since they moved back to Mr Bethell’s home county of Yorkshire in the early 1990s.

Speaking from Ireland, he said: “I spoke to James briefly on Tuesday evening to see if there was anything I could do to help and he told me that Jessica was on a life-support machine, but then I found out later that she had died.

“I will obviously speak to them over the coming days, but it must be so hard for them at the moment. I saw her grow up and become involved in racing, going to the gallops with her father. She was always such a bright and bubbly girl, and it is so hard to take in that she is no longer with us.”

Richard Fahey, who runs Musley Bank Stables near Malton in North Yorkshire, was a good friend of Miss Bethell and had spoken to her in the past week. Both had holidayed with friends in Thailand in 2010, with the group also including Miss Bethell’s close friend Amy Ryan, the daughter of Thirsk-based trainer Kevin Ryan.

Mr Fahey said: “Everybody is in a state of shock, and I feel so sorry for Jessica’s family. It is all so surreal at the moment, I can’t believe she is gone.

“She was a very smart girl, who knew how to look after herself. She loved horses, and had a real affinity with them. She will be sadly missed by the whole of racing.”

Other members of the racing world expressed their sorrow at the news.

Silvestre De Sousa, the 2011 runner-up in the British flat jockeys championship, tweeted: “So very sad to hear about Jess Bethell. Thoughts go out to her family.”

David Pipe, the Somerset-based Grand National and Cheltenham Festival winning racehorse trainer, also posted on the social networking site, and said: “Terribly sad news about Jessica Bethell –our thoughts and condolences are with her family at this time.”