Five flat jockeys to suffer serious injury
The terrible injuries suffered by German-born flat racing jockey Frederik Tylicki are, says English riding great Ryan Moore, part and parcel of their 'dangerous sport'. AFP Sport looks at five other flat jockeys who suffered serious injuries Lester Piggott The 'long fellow', as he was fondly known, had made a remarkable comeback to the saddle winning a Breeder's Cup Mile for old retainer Vincent O'Brien at the age of 55 in 1990. However, two years later, at the same meeting, his mount the sprinter Mr Brooks broke a leg on the dirt surface and staggered on for several more strides before collapsing, trapping Piggott underneath him. The horse was put down whilst Piggott was laid-off for three months with several broken bones and a collapsed lung. Piggott made light of the episode: "I've had worse injuries falling out of bed." He retired from the saddle in 1994. Willie Carson Piggott's great rival, the four-time Epsom Derby winning jockey suffered a fractured skull when his ride Silken Knot stumbled in the middle of the field in the 1981 Yorkshire Oaks, the tightly-packed field could not avoid the then 38-year-old's prone figure on the turf. "Willie is lucky to come out of it alive. It was the worst fall I have ever seen. The horses galloped right over him," commented rival Steve Cauthen. Carson termed himself a 'tough little bugger' and recovered to win many more Group One races. His mount was not so fortunate as she was put down. Hayley Turner Britain's most successful female jockey -- she rode 100 winners in the 2008 season and had three Group One winners to her credit -- more than held her own against her male counterparts but she came to grief in a race at Doncaster in 2013 on filly, Seal of Approval. This time the horse emerged to race another day -- winning a Group One -- but Turner was off for three months having broken three vertebrae and pelvis. Although she returned to the saddle she admitted it had marked her. "When I came back from her injury, I’d lost confidence. I was taking (myself) out of gaps that I wouldn’t have done and if I was on a keen horse, I’d be a bit nervous," Turner told The Guardian. She has since retired. Michelle Payne Groundbreaking Australian jockey who experienced the high of winning the Melbourne Cup last year on 100/1 outsider, Prince of Penzance. However, her dream of riding at England's most prestigious flat racing Festival, Royal Ascot, were dashed in late May when she suffered a dreadful fall at the country track of Mildura. She suffered a torn pancreas but the surgeon "was able to save the three-quarters that was severed" and sew it to her stomach. She has since returned to riding and mixes that with training. Angel Cordero Jr The three-time Kentucky Derby winner was brought crashing to the ground in a run of the mill race at Aquaduct in 1993. His ride had nowhere to go but down as the horse in front of him fell after breaking a leg. Cordero, then 43, hit a pole on the rails after coming out of the saddle and broke an elbow and several ribs. However, far worse he suffered serious internal bleeding and had to have his spleen removed. He launched an aborted comeback and quickly retired.
