Jockey given 3% chance of survival returns to track

A jockey who suffered life-threatening injuries and was predicted only a 3% chance of survival is returning to the racecourse today (Sunday 12 July).

Two years after the serious fall jump jockey Brian Toomey is heading to Southwell racecourse to ride the Philip Kirby-trained Kings Grey in a hurdle race at 4.20pm.

The jockey successful regained his jockeys licence last month, after passing all medical tests, including those with neurosurgeons.

He was also assessed on his fitness, ability to control a horse safely and the risk of further injury should he fall. The British Horseracing Authority’s chief medical advisor Dr Jerry Hill passed the jockey saying he had shown he was “fit to ride.

Brian suffered serious head injuries in a fall on 4 July 2013 at Perth racecourse.

After the fall the rider was placed in an induced coma for two weeks and had part of his skull removed in an operation. He remained in hospital for 157 days.

“Following the accident, the paramedics said that I was dead for six seconds, but they managed to resuscitate me. Then when I made it to the hospital they thought that I only had a 3% chance of survival,” he said.

“Now here I am, two years on, ready to race ride again.

“I know there will be people who will say I’m mad to want to come back but it’s been my dream since I was a boy to be a jockey and it’s a job and life I love, and I was absolutely determined that, if I couldn’t make it back, it wouldn’t be through a lack of effort on my part”

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