Vale Tim Bell

Te Akau Racing is shocked and deeply saddened by the death yesterday of rising star, jockey Tim Bell in a non-racing related accident in Singapore.  The young Australian had recently ridden Sebrose to Group 3 glory at Kranji for our Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker, having commenced a three month contract in Singapore.

Mark Walker said "this is just an absolute tragedy.  Tim was a hard working, lovely young man - he was due to ride track gallops for us this morning and I had him assigned to ride four on Friday night at the races.  It's just such a terrible loss of a talented young life, a young man with a huge future."

Our deepest sympathies and thoughts go to his family and friends.

Australian media sources reported:

The 22-year-old had been living and working in Singapore on a three-month contract.  A friend has told the ABC Bell died after slipping and falling from his 12th floor apartment on Tuesday night.

The news has rocked the Australian racing community.

Bell started his career as a teenage jockey in Tamworth in New South Wales.  He has been described as a hard worker who lived to be a jockey. Bell had success early in his career and rode his first Group one winner on Tinto in the Queensland Oaks in Brisbane last year.

Queensland Jockeys Association president Glen Prentice said Bell travelled to Singapore to take the next step in his career.

"It's just tragic - it's tragic that he's not here with us anymore.  He's always wanted to reach the top and he wanted to travel overseas, so he took a three-month contract in Singapore."

Mr Prentice said Bell "was a guy with a lot of ambition".

"He really wanted to be the best out there," he said.

"He felt like he'd achieved a lot in Brisbane and wanted to expand his horizons, get some international experience, to achieve goals and win Melbourne Cups and be regarded in the top bracket of riders - not only in the country but all around the world."

Mr Prentice said Bell was already proving his skills overseas, with a recent group three win for trainer Mark Walker in Singapore.

"He was a happy fella - he was always good for a laugh, had plenty to say.  He was well liked and well respected - a terrific rider.  He will be very sorely missed."

Sue Grills, to whom Tim was apprenticed to in Australia, also paid tribute:

Tim Bell was a natural a horseman who was determined to make it to the top as a jockey, his former master Sue Grills has said.

Bell joined Grills at her Tamworth stables as a 14-year-old and immediately showed talent beyond his years.  The trainer said she was devastated by the news of Bell's death in Singapore today.

"He was only 22," she told RadioTAB. "Right from the start he was so dedicated and he would be forever studying race videos and on the mechanical horse practising.  He could ride anything from the start. He was always going to make it."

She said when Bell was ready for city racing, his parents had driven him to meetings in Sydney and Brisbane.  Bell's career got a major boost with his 12 wins on Grills's sprinter Border Rebel.  He went on to claim the 2013-14 Brisbane jockeys' premiership and in the same season notched his first Group One win on Tinto in the Queensland Oaks.

An investigation is believed to be underway into the death of the 22-year-old, which was not racing-related.  Bell began a three-month riding contract in Singapore last month.