Jockey Star in intensive care after horrific four-horse pile-up causes racing to be abandoned

Recently-crowned champion jockey Jim Crowley was rushed to hospital after being involved in an horrific accident at Kempton with fellow rider Freddy Tylicki, who remains in intensive care with suspected spinal injuries. 

The terrifying four-horse accident happened in the third race of Monday's meeting, with racing abandoned for the remainder of the day after Group One-winning rider Tylicki was airlifted to the major trauma unit at St Georges Hospital in Tooting. 

The accident happened turning for home in a maiden and it appeared that Tylicki bore the worst of it when his mount Nellie Deen was in behind the leader and clipped heels, going down over her rider. This caused a pile-up bringing down Crowley aboard Electrify, Ted Durcan (Sovrano Dolce) and Steve Drowne (Skara Mae)

The last two named were able to return to the weighing room while the other pair were attended to for around an hour. All four horses were said to be uninjured.

Crowley was discharged from hospital on Monday night, with a late bulletin provided by the Injured Jockeys Fund stating: “Following the incident at Kempton Park racecourse this afternoon, jockey Jim Crowley has been discharged from St Georges Hospital, Tooting, to return home with his family.

Barney Clifford, clerk of the course, on a traumatic day at Kempton. Everybody's thoughts at Racing UK with Freddie Tylicki and Jim Crowley. pic.twitter.com/sx1VzVybVw

— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) 31 октября 2016 г.

“Freddy Tylicki, also involved in the incident, is in intensive care in a stable condition. He is conscious and there will be a further update tomorrow once more is known.”

Both riders have enjoyed landmark seasons. Crowley, 38, who once rode over jumps, partnered 148 winners to get the better of reigning champion Silvestre De Sousa for his maiden title, including beating the record for the number in a calendar month with 46 victories in September.

Tylicki, a chirpy and popular former champion apprentice, has undergone something of a renaissance and his partnership with the James Fanshawe-trained Speedy Boarding provided him with his first two Group One winners in France, most recently in the Prix de l’Opéra at the start of last month.

The German-born rider had already received a fair share of injuries and he missed half of 2010 after a fall at Musselburgh in which he fractured his shoulder. At the end of 2014, he was out for another few weeks with a broken nose, coming off a horse in a nasty episode at Wolverhampton.

This was just a run-of-the-mill meeting on Kempton’s all-weather surface but featured a reasonable amount of the leading names without high-profile engagements at the Melbourne or Breeders’ Cups this week as they wind down to the end of the Turf season at Doncaster on Saturday. Clifford, who was once a jump jockey himself, looked moved by the scenes and reports from the course were of a sombre mood in the weighing room among Crowley and Tylicki’s colleagues.

Clifford continued: “I touched base with Steve Drowne, he was fine. Ted was quite shook and I think a little bit lame, I believe the doctors touched base and they said they were OK. The reality is that with Flat or National Hunt racing, that it is a dangerous sport. I guess you don’t expect those things to happen on the Flat and when they do clip heels, if that was the cause of the problem, there can be a concertina effect. I just hope and pray that both Freddy and Jim are OK.” 

John Best, the Kent-based trainer who is a regular with runners on the course, said: “It’s a long time since I can remember experiencing an ­atmosphere like that, it was extraordinary, it was very quiet and down in the owners and trainers’ bar.

“In the weighing room, it just felt awful. Some of the jockeys were prepared to ride on, and I can see why they would, but some of them weren’t. I had a horse in a race later on, obviously you want to run your horse but I think it was absolutely the right decision to abandon.

“When you saw the accident happen, it just sent a sort of shiver down your spine straight away. At the moment, it feels like nothing else matters and I just hope they are OK.” 

Injuries to Flat jockeys on the track are not uncommon, even if they occur less frequently than in the National Hunt world, but given they can happen at 40mph and ­often with virtually no warning, they are sometimes more serious.

Even household names such as Frankie Dettori and Hayley Turner have experienced accidents on the course but thankfully fatalities have been extremely rare. The last Flat jockey to have lost their life in action was lightweight rider Steve Wood at Lingfield in 1994.

Jim Crowley has been discharged from hospital. Freddy Tylicki is in intensive care in a stable condition and is conscious

— Racing Post (@RacingPost) 31 октября 2016 г.

In Australia, the 19-year-old Caitlin Forrest died from injuries sustained in a four-horse pile up at Murray Bridge racecourse near ­Adelaide while Carly-Mae Pye, 26, also had an ultimately fatal fall in a barrier trial in Rockhampton. Juan Saez, a 17-year-old apprentice from Panama, died from head injuries ­after a fall at Indiana Grand racecourse in America.