Four-year-old bay mare Lina's Choice collapsed with a shattered leg near the winning post at the Gulgong racecourse, in central western NSW, about 7.30am on February 8, 2022.
Apprentice jockey Marina Morel suffered critical injuries when she was thrown to the ground and became pinned underneath the panicked and thrashing animal.
The 30-year-old was pulled out by her colleague Kurt Thompson before being airlifted to Sydney's Westmead Hospital, where she was declared dead four days later.
An inquest is examining the circumstances surrounding Morel's death, including the medical fitness of Lina's Choice at the time of the accident.
The racehorse had suffered a partially ruptured ligament in March 2021 for which veterinarian Jack Holman recommended up to 12 months' rest in a paddock.
But he told the inquest he wasn't concerned when the horse returned to work after six months, citing recent literature which suggests that is an adequate recovery period.
Lina's Choice ran in two races in December 2021 and January 2022 without any raising any concerns from her jockey or trainer Brett Thompson, the inquest was told.
But in a police statement, former Brett Thompson Racing stablehand Sarah Connell said she had been told the horse had pulled up lame after its last race and shouldn't have been working at the time.
She attributed the statement to the company's foreman Elizabeth Theobold, who denied having the conversation during her own testimony at the NSW Coroners Court on Tuesday.
While Ms Connell argued she hadn't told police about the horse's injury, she defended her recollection of the conversation.
"Obviously it is a blur and I can't be specific but my memory is that … I do remember (Ms Theobold) saying that she didn't think the horse should have been worked," she told the inquest.
She was hysterical and struggling with Morel's death when she spoke with police and hadn't realised that her comment was "going to be such an issue", she said.
Ms Connell couldn't retract her statement when Ms Theobold denied the conversation, she explained, because it was her honest recollection at the time.
The emotional former stablehand wiped away tears as Mr Thompson's barrister Brent Haverfield SC queried inconsistencies in her statements to police and her oral testimony.
"I'm basically going to sit here and have you nitpick every word I'm saying. I have said, 'Liz said something to me'," she retorted.
"I don't even want to be here and now I'm being poked and prodded to find me in a mistake".
When Mr Haverfield suggested she hadn't wanted to make a statement because she couldn't be certain what she was saying was correct, Ms Connell agreed she couldn't be sure.
When it came her turn to give evidence, Ms Theobold said she hadn't spoken to Ms Connell about Lina's Choice on the day of the accident.
Brett Thompson is expected to give evidence when the inquest continues on Wednesday.
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