Collett ready to help as ‘little family’ mourns Izzy Neale

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Alysha Collett will chase a rich double on Saturday at Newcastle while doing what she can for colleagues after the tragic loss of apprentice Izzy Neale.

As one of the most experienced members of female jockeys’ rooms in Sydney and its surrounds, Alysha Collett tries to help out the growing number of apprentices whenever she can.

It is support the 32-year-old group 1-winner feels was missing in the far sparser rooms when she was coming through the ranks.

And it is support needed more than ever this week after the heartbreaking death of Scone apprentice Izzy Neale.

“It’s a little family in that jockeys’ room, and it’s honestly just devastating,” said Collett, who rides $5.50 favourite Sweynesday in the $1 million The Hunter on Saturday at Newcastle.

“It’s really unfair what’s happened, but the girls have all stuck together, which is really nice to see.

“Mikayla [Weir] and Maddy [Owen] and others, they were good friends with her. I don’t know what they would be going through right now. It’s brutal, and it’s a bit of reality, for what things can happen, for the young apprentices as well. That’s probably the tough thing to swallow also.”

Neale’s family announced the 22-year-old’s death on Tuesday night, following a fall at Warren on Sunday when her mount Marnoo broke down on the home turn with a catastrophic injury.

It was the first race fall death of a jockey in NSW since Darren Jones in 2017 and has triggered an outpouring of grief and tributes for Neale, who had been riding professionally for less than three years.

The tragedy has rocked the racing community, especially the huge group of female apprentices in NSW. Collett rides regularly at all levels and often makes herself available as an adviser in stewards inquiries, or mentor outside of them, for her younger colleagues.

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