CTK
Updated 33 minutes ago
The four-time German champion had won 1,769 races until a serious injury in 2020, after which he was on artificial sleep for several weeks.
Today, the website jezdci.cz and specialized portals in Germany, where Minařík mostly rode, reported on his death.
According to galopponline.de, Minařík suffered from severe depression and committed suicide.
“We fought so hard, but in the end they lost the battle with the ever-increasing depression. We need time to realize and process what happened,” said the late jockey’s wife, Katja.
“Czech horse racing woke up to a dark day. The most successful jockey in domestic history, Filip Minařík, passed away on Monday at the age of 48,” wrote the jezdci.cz website.
“Just last weekend, he attended the autumn meeting in Baden Baden as a spectator,” he added.
A native of Prague’s Radotín, he followed in the footsteps of his father and Czechoslovak jockey champion Ferdinand Minařík from childhood.
He won the first race in April 1991 in Velká Chuchli and the last in June 2020 in Hannover.
A month later in Mannheim, Minařík injured his head and broke his leg during a heavy fall and was in a coma for four months. His friends then organized a fundraiser to cover the cost of treatment.
With the strain of his strength, he then returned to life, his wife Katja helped him in particular. They had a daughter Finja.
Minařík lived the second half of his life in Germany. He established himself not only in Europe, but also in Japan. He won at least once at 63 racetracks in eleven countries around the world.
2023-09-05 11:12:50
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