Hayley Turner gets go ahead to raceride at Ascot today
Britain’s leading female jockey, Hayley Turner, returns to action at Ascot today after winning her appeal against the British Horseracing Authority’s 12-month suspension for medical reasons.
Turner suffered a bad fall on the gallops in Newmarket in March, causing her a variety of injuries and memory loss.
The BHA’s chief medical advisor, Dr Michael Turner, decided not to let her raceride for a year but the jockey, backed by trainer and Horse & Hound columnist Michael Bell and her neurosurgeon, appealed the ban.
She said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I can’t wait to get back in the saddle and I am very grateful to Dr Peter Kirkpatrick, my neurosurgeon, for all his help and support in a difficult time.”
Hayley’s comeback ride will be on Michael Bell’s Prompter in the 3.35pm at Ascot, and she also rides Great Charm for Bell in the 4.10pm.
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A St Andrews’ graduate, Catherine joined Horse & Hound in 2002 and stayed for 11 years in a variety of roles until she went freelance in June 2013. She rejoined the team part-time in November 2016 as hunting editor. She pretty much lives on the hunting field or at the racecourse, but also loves eventing, as a journalist, press officer and competitor. She was H&H’s sole accredited journalist at the London Olympic Games and has reported from major race meetings and eventing, showjumping and dressage championships and shows round the world, and has hunted all over Britain and Ireland.