Jess Mills is an Australian Young Rider who is no stranger to hardship - she and her mother Peggy have overcome enormous difficulties and financial struggles through the many years so many of us have known them and you never hear a word of complaint or self pity - both of these amazing women always have a smile on their faces and are always the first to pitch in and help anyone who needs help.

Jess won a competition in Australia which gave her a trip to Holland to spend time at Jan Tops yard - this should have been the trip of a lifetime! Unfortunately tragedy struck during this time with her two showjumping horses Riverside and Tom Whiskers gettingout on the road - both horses were killed instantly when they were hit by a truck - thankfully no human life was lost but Jess is now left with no horses and no way of getting a new horse to enable her to continue her showjumping.

The Australian Racing fraternity have got behind a drive by Helen Moreland to raise funds to purchase a new horse for Jess and at the time of going to print we understand that Helen is trying to gather items for a major raffle.

Former top Australian showjumpers turned racehorse trainers, Eric Musgrove and Greg Eurell were both touched by Jess' tragedy and are now on the lookout for a green horse which might be suitable for Jess and hopefully some or even one of the racehorse owners might see fit to rehome one of their horses which might not be a racing superstar but might have potential as a showjumper.

Helen Moreland, after much discussion, has decided that a major raffle is the way to go to raise funds to purchase a going horse for Jess and the wheels are in motion to gather goods for the raffle. At this point in time it appears that Racing Victoria, VRC, MVRC, Melbourne Racing Club, Country Racing Board, Victoria will be coming on board to help through distribution of the raffle tickets and the donation of Race day packages.

Warrnambool Racing Club's Chris Nolan and Marg Lucas who have been great supporters of showjumping through the Showjumping event which is run in conjunction with Racing at the beautiful Warrnambool Racing Club are getting behind this effort to raise funds.

Jess is a young lady with a passion and a talent for showjumping and it is great to see the Australian Horse community getting behind her during this difficult time.

Anyone who wishes to offer assistance to this cause please contact Helen Moreland at Racing Victoria, 400 Epsom Road, Flemington, Victoria, Australia.

Helen can be contacted by phone on: +61 3 9258 4767 or fax: +61 3 9258 4326