An amateur rider is in intensive care with a back injury after being flown by air ambulance to Royal Preston Hospital following a fall at Cartmel on Saturday.
Alice Procter, 21, a former event rider, was having only her seventh ride over jumps under rules when her mount, Uggy Uggy Uggy, took a heavy fall at the second flight in the Cartmel Female Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, one of the most valuable races of its kind, in which Rachael Blackmore, Gina Andrews, Charlotte Jones and new point-to-point ladies’ champion, Izzie Hill, all took part.
The remaining 10 runners bypassed the hurdle on the second circuit while Procter, whose parents run the Dorset stud where Honeysuckle was born and bred, immediately reported back pain to the paramedics. The next race was delayed by an hour while she was treated and transferred to the air ambulance.
A statement put out by the Injured Jockeys Fund yesterday said: “Amateur jockey Alice Procter had a fall at Cartmel racecourse [on Saturday] and immediately reported back pain.
“She was flown by helicopter to the major trauma centre at Royal Preston Hospital. Following scans, she was then taken to the operating theatre under the care of the spinal team.
“She is now in the ICU with her family in attendance. Further updates will be issued in due course.”
Procter, whose brother Freddie is a jockey in America, works for Keiran Burke, the Whitcombe-based trainer 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.
Her 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.
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.
