Heartbreak as miracle jockey's final ride ends with tragic fall

MIRACLE jump jockey Brian Toomey's final ride ended in heartbreak when his mount City Dreams was brought down and suffered a fatal injury.
Miracle jockey Brian Toomey's final ride ended in heartbreak.Miracle jockey Brian Toomey's final ride ended in heartbreak.
Miracle jockey Brian Toomey's final ride ended in heartbreak.

It was a dispiriting end to the riding career of the 27-year-old who cheated death following a fall three summers ago before he began the most unlikely sporting comeback of all.

Even though Toomey, who was based in North Yorkshire, returned to the saddle last July on a wave of emotion and euphoria, he soon struggled to gain sufficient rides – never mind winners – and announced last week that his final competitive race would be at Stratford aboard City Dreams for Middleham trainer Phil Kirby.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Toomey masked his disappointment by saying that he drew great satisfaction from returning to competitive action after spending 157 nights in hospital and having part of his skull cut away to ease the swelling on his brain.

He still hopes to become a trainer and Bob Champion, the North Yorkshire rider who cheated cancer to win the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti, remains in awe of Toomey’s achievement.

“I admire him greatly for what he has done,” he said. “He’s tried his best, but unfortunately it didn’t work out, which is a bit sad for him.

“But he’s alive and he’s got out of the game in one piece - and that’s the main thing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s been an amazing story, but hopefully he can go on and do something else in racing.

“When all said and done, it doesn’t really matter about riding winners and all those things. The fact he is still with us is the real heart-warming thing.”

Announcing his decision last week, Toomey said he had to come to terms with the fact that he had only ridden 49 winners prior to his Perth fall.

“It’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders. At some point I needed to accept it wasn’t going to happen for me as a jockey,” he said. “I’ve had barely any rides, so it wasn’t really a hard decision to retire. I just wanted the chance to prove I was still capable.”