Vale Melanie Tyndall (21 March 1987-31 August 2019) ALMOST six years ago, the thoroughbred racing industry of the Northern Territory suffered a tragic loss when one of its most beloved members, Melanie Tyndall, passed away following a race fall at Fannie Bay Racecourse on 31 August, 2019. Born in South Australia on 21 March 1987, Melanie Joy Tyndall spent the majority of her youth in her home state before moving to the Territory in 2013 to further her career as a jockey. She excelled in her chosen profession, riding 150 winners and amassing a further 495 placings from 1,748 career rides. She rode her first winner, Brookman, at Ceduna on 17 January 2009, with her first metropolitan success coming aboard Grand Taj at Morphettville on 25 August 2011. Melanie’s first win in the Top End, her 57th career success, came aboard Savannah Prince on 6 October 2012, and she continued to make her mark throughout her years in the saddle. She rode seven raceday trebles, her last at Katherine only a fortnight before her tragic accident, and also collected 17 doubles. Her final win, her 150th, came aboard Princess Leah at Fannie Bay on the day she died. Melanie’s biggest win came in the 2015 Rosebowl in Darwin on Ambrosia, while other feature-race wins included the Katherine Cup, Penong Cup, Silver City Cup (Broken Hill), Hawker Cup and Quorn Cup. Melanie also had a desire to help her local community, and joined the Northern Territory Police Force in May 2017. After graduating, she served two years in Katherine before being posted to Casuarina Police Station in Darwin. She was a hard-working and dedicated police officer, and combining her two loves of policing and horses, she had successfully completed the mounted police rider assessment. Melanie was a much respected member of the tight-knit NT racing family, and her death was felt deeply by the whole industry. A quiet and private individual, she was universally loved by all who came into contact with her, and we remember Melanie with great fondness at this time each year.
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