Suicide jockey on way to funeral after friend's suicide

Dubai-based jockey Phillip Alderman, who hanged himself in his hotel room, was en route to Australia for the funeral of a friend who had also hanged himself.
The 38-year-old New Zealander checked into the Shangri La Hotel at 2.30am on October 17 instead of catching his flight to Melbourne for the funeral of his former marriage counsellor.
He was found hanging from a belt two days later after hotel staff called police when he repeatedly failed to answer the door.
The jockey, who won the Auckland Cup in 1982, separated from his wife last year and was said to have been traumatised by the suicide of his former marriage counsellor, who was discovered hanging in Melbourne a week earlier.
Alderman, who has a five-year-old son, had only recently moved to Dubai to work as a trackwork rider for trainer Graeme Rogerson, who has stables in New Zealand, Australia and Dubai.
Jim Melton, assistant trainer at Rogerson's stables in Melbourne, said, "We knew he had a few problems. His marriage had broken down and he missed his little boy whom he was very close to.
"It was a trying time for him, but I think what set him off was the death of a good friend in Melbourne who hanged himself about a week before. He was supposed to fly back for the funeral and was booked on the flight when he was found dead."
Melton described Alderman's death as a "tragic loss for racing."
"It was the last thing we would have expected," he said. "He was a really good guy and a good friend to us all. He was one of New Zealand's best apprentice jockeys before moving to Australia where he also rode a lot of good winners. "He was in the twilight of his career when he moved to Dubai and was planning on doing two or three years there. It's a terrible tragedy."
Alderman, who was from Hawkes Bay in New Zealand, won the Auckland Cup on the Alan Jones-trained Chimbu in 1982 and enjoyed Group One success in Melbourne aboard King Marauding in the Manikato Stakes. His ashes will be scattered at the Ellerslie Race Course where he rode his Auckland Cup triumph.