00:00The winning horse crossed the finish line and even though it was the rider's first win of his life,
00:05strangely, Frank Hayes didn't celebrate. Instead, he just sat there, slumped into the horse for a
00:11while, until 100 yards later he slipped out of the saddle, fell face down into the dirt and lay there
00:16motionless on the ground. The track doctor hurried over, but there was nothing he could do. The 22
00:22year old jockey was dead. But how? Well, your first thought might be foul play. Maybe certain people
00:28had money on the race and weren't happy to see a 20 to 1 horse cross the finish line first
00:33on the
00:33jockey's second ever race. But Frank's weird death actually wasn't deemed suspicious at all. See,
00:40Frank wasn't in a very good condition at the time. Leading up to the race, he'd been told by his
00:44employer at the stables that to have any chance at racing, he'd need to lose a significant amount
00:50of weight. So he pushed himself to the absolute limit to make that happen. He had minimal meals,
00:55he ran endlessly, and he lifted weights frenetically in his desperation to drop the pounds needed. But
01:01as race day approached, it became increasingly clear Frank was going to have to do something
01:06drastic to make weight. Because Frank's horse, Sweet Kiss, had an assigned weight allowance of 140
01:12pounds, which is the lightest the jockey and his equipment is allowed to be. If they're any lighter,
01:17they get lead weights added onto their equipment. Frank weighed 142 pounds, which would have almost
01:22been a good spot to be, except for the fact that he'd also been allocated a 10-pound novice allowance,
01:28reducing his assigned allowance down to 130 pounds. So, seemingly in a naive attempt to make the most out
01:35of his reduced weight allocation, in the final day before the race, Frank ramped up his weight-cutting
01:41activities to the extreme, running until exhaustion, sweating profusely, and refusing to drink any water
01:46or eat any food until after the race. By the time the race arrived and he climbed on top of
01:52his horse,
01:52he was so weak and malnourished that he could barely stand. However, he knew the race wouldn't
01:57take long, so he held on as tight as he could and he set off down the track for the
02:02race of his life.
02:03The race itself was a steeplechase over two miles. The horse had to leap over fences and the track was
02:09damp and slippery after a recent rainfall. But still, Frank held on. For most of the race,
02:14sweet kiss was sitting right behind the favorite, Gimmy. But towards the end, sweet kiss made her
02:19move. She overtook Gimmy and as she rocketed towards the final fence, Frank's grip on her
02:25loosened. He slumped into the back of her neck, she leapt over the final fence and she crossed the
02:30finish line in first place. Many people believe that the heart attack that killed Frank Hayes
02:35happened right there before that final fence. But despite that tragic end, his win stood. Frank was
02:41buried in his racing silks three days later. And according to Guinness World Records, this makes
02:46Frank Hayes the first and hopefully only dead jockey to ever win a horse race.
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