Probert rushed to Wexham Park Hospital after injury at Windsor meet

Photo: Sue Orpwood

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A jockey was rushed to Wexham Park Hospital after being kicked by a horse at Windsor’s race meeting on Monday evening, writes Dave Wright.

David Probert was in the parade ring before the second race on the card when he was hurt by his intended mount, Bits And Bobs, trained by Andrew Balding.

With screens put up around him, he was treated by the track’s medics before being taken to hospital.

Sky Racing presenter Matt Chapman, who was close by, described it as one of the nastiest incidents he had witnessed at a racecourse. “Imagine a horse kicking out and the sound it makes hitting a plastic railing - in this case it wasn't the railing but a jockey,” he said.

Probert was X-rayed at hospital, but they showed no serious damage and he later tweeted he was ‘just bruised and sore.’

The two-year-old Bits And Bobs, who was due to run for the first time, was withdrawn from the race which went off eight minutes late. It was won by Perfect View (7/2), trained by George Scott and ridden by Benoit De La Sayette.

One of the owners is Emma Banks, a music agent who has represented many artists, including Kylie Minogue and Katy Perry. She had brought along several of her friends to see her horse run.

The feature race on the card was the Darley EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over a mile. It was won by High Spirited (11/1) ridden by Dane O’Neill and trained by Henry Candy, the father of former Windsor clerk of the course Sophie Candy who is now a British Horse Race Authority Steward.

In this mile contest, the King and Queen should have been doubly represented, but Value Added was withdrawn after breaking out of the stalls before the off, and Gentle Light could only finish fifth of the 13 runners.

Rob Hornby rode two successive winners, the debut-making Cry Fiction (20/1) for Jonathan Portman and the Hughie Morrison-trained Haymaker, who was the 100/30 joint-favourite for the latest qualifier in the Fitzdares Sprint Series.

In-form trainer Gary Moore and apprentice Rhys Clutterbuck were in the winner’s enclosure for the second successive Monday, this time with 100/30 favourite Saligo Bay.

Their previous week’s winner, Junkanoo, has an entry for the 3.45 race at next Monday’s meeting that gets underway at 1.30.