His father was Aaron Dodd, a native of Leicestershire, England, who was convicted of burglary and transported for life to Van Diemens Land in 1828.
[3] An inquest on his body found that he died of complications from a compound fracture caused when his leg was twisted between the rail and the post.
[7] This story dates back at least to a 1949 article by "The Storyteller" in a Victorian regional newspaper[8] which adds that Dodd bred Dalmatian dogs, one of which ran away a week before the race.
The final part of the legend is that Dodd was riding Wheatear, and died on the track, killed by his own faithful dog.
Wannan and others point out that Dodd was in fact riding Suwarrow and that this accident was unrelated to the one caused by the dog.