Funeral for jockey killed in fire

Mr Kyne's body was carried to the church on Wednesday for a vigil

Members of the racing fraternity have gathered to pay their respects to an apprentice jockey who was killed in a suspected arson attack.

Hundreds of mourners packed St Leonard and St Mary's Roman Catholic church in Malton, North Yorkshire, for the funeral mass of Jamie Kyne.

The 18-year-old, from Galway, died in a fire at a block of flats in Norton, near Malton, on 5 September.

His body will be flown to the Irish Republic for a private family burial.

Fellow jockey Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar in Morayshire, was also killed when fire broke out at the flats in Buckrose Court in the early hours.

Somebody once said that jockeys are born, not made. Whoever that somebody was, he could have been talking directly and personally about Jamie Kyne

Tom O'Ryan, Racing Post journalist

Miss Wilson's funeral will take place in Scotland next week.

Among the mourners at Mr Kyne's funeral was his trainer, John Quinn.

In his address, Racing Post journalist Tom O'Ryan spoke of "the little guy with a sharp sense of humour, a twinkle in his eye and an infectious laugh".

He told the mourners Mr Kyne had 38 winners in 454 rides and rode in races for 113 different trainers.

"What he had, as John Quinn has said more than once, was something special, something you can't teach. A God-given gift: the ability to get horses to run for you, horses that often don't really want to run, sometimes don't want to give of their best," said Mr O'Ryan.

"Somebody once said that jockeys are born, not made. Whoever that somebody was, he could have been talking directly and personally about Jamie Kyne. He was a young man born to ride.

A fund set up in the memory of the jockeys has raised �39,000

"You didn't have to be a so-called racing expert to spot it. Anybody with even half an eye could see it. Jamie was a pure natural in the saddle."

Father Tim Bywater spoke of the "sickening horror" when news of the two deaths was revealed.

He told the mourners: "We feel cheated, we feel betrayed.

"These people were so young, full of life, vibrant, focused, living the dream. What happened was awful."

Earlier, Mr Kyne's grandmother Nuala Cosgrove said: "It's very, very hard. I used to talk to [Jamie] every two or three days. He was a great young lad. He was my pride and joy."

Mrs Cosgrave said the family found out about Mr Kyle's death from reports on the television.

"We heard three people were burnt and two jumped out of the window... so knowing Jamie I thought that will be him that's jumped out of the window but I'm afraid it wasn't," she said.