Amateur jockey Jessica Westwood to focus on training
Amateur jockey Jessica Westwood will be focusing on training horses after being told she will not race-ride again.
Jessica, who is 21, is currently at a neuro rehabilitation clinic in Germany, where she will be for two to three weeks.
In March Jessica suffered her second serious head injury in five years, at the Quantock Staghounds point-to-point meeting at Cothelstone (17 March).
When she was 15, she suffered swelling to the brain after falling off then being kicked in the head.
She will be unable to get a jockey’s license on medical grounds, but hopes to get a training permit.
“The doctors said I wasn’t going to get my license back,” she told H&H. “I’d had two serious head injuries and they wouldn’t risk it. But I enjoy training and have four horses currently at home so I’m hoping to be good at that.
“I’m getting a lot better, the left side of my body is a lot slower though. I won’t be allowed to race ride but there’s no way I wouldn’t ride at home, I couldn’t not.”
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Her star horse, Monkerty Tunkerty was her first winner as a trainer in December 2010. And she enjoyed a double when Rockon Xmoor also won on the same day.
Monkerty Tunkerty, whom she owns and trains was due to run in the Christie’s Foxhunter before being ruled out due to a bruised foot.
He is now being aimed at the John Corbet Cup at Stratford (1 June). He will be ridden by Josh Guerriero.
“Monkerty Tunkerty was bought for me and it will be difficult to watch someone else ride, but he’d be wasted otherwise,” said Jessica.
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (10 May)
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.