Dorset-based amateur jockey Alice Procter may have suffered spinal damage in a heavy fall at Cartmel on Saturday.
Procter, 21, was taken by air ambulance from the Cumbrian racecourse to the trauma unit of the Royal Preston Hospital after her fall from Uggy Uggy Uggy at the second flight in the Female Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle and underwent successful surgery on Saturday evening to stabilise a spinal fracture.
However, there are indications of damage to the spinal cord, the Injured Jockeys Fund has said. She remains in the intensive care unit and is able to talk in small bursts.
The Injured Jockeys Fund statement said: “Alice Procter remains in intensive care at the Royal Preston Hospital after her fall at Cartmel on Saturday. She is conscious and able to talk for short periods. The surgery to stabilise her thoracic spinal fracture was successful although there are indications of some damage to the spinal cord.
“Alice will remain in hospital as plans are made for her longer term rehabilitation. The Procter family are very grateful for all the messages of support from across the industry. However they recognise this is likely to be a long journey and kindly ask enquiries are handled by the IJF.”
Procter’s parents, Doug and Lucy Procter, own and run The Glanvilles Stud near Sherborne in Dorset where Honeysuckle, the two-time Champion Hurdle winner for trainer Henry de Bromhead and owner Kenny Alexander, was bred.
She has ridden point-to-point winners but had yet to ride one under rules and has worked for Whitcombe-based Kieran Burke, who trains Uggy Uggy Uggy, a three-time winner over hurdles who had never fallen before. Procter also trains point-to-pointers and rode her first winner in that sphere in March 2022.
Honeysuckle, who racked up 16 straight wins under rules before the first of only two defeats, was retired after winning an emotional second Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, her fourth consecutive win at the Festival, in 2023. She had her first foal, a filly by Walk In The Park, in March.
