Over the stable door: Repeated concussions make me ideal candidate for new study

The objective of their research, the biggest project of its kind ever undertaken, is to find out what long-term effects there maybe for those who suffered multiple concussions during their sporting careers. I suspect with six under my hat I will be an ideal candidate.

Jockeys, footballers, rugby players and boxers will be among those tested. Results will be compared with members of the public of similar age who’ve never suffered concussion. The research hopes to uncover if blows to the head make sports people more susceptible to various conditions like depression, dementia or chronic traumatic encephalopathy in later life.

The driving force behind the project is former British Horseracing Authority chief medical adviser Dr Michael Turner, someone I remember well from the days when I was still able to bounce. He left the BHA two years ago and has since been collaborating with international experts on head injuries sustained in sport.

Testing has already started on male and female former jockeys and Dr Turner hopes to start getting results within three years. Funding has come from the Injured Jockeys Fund, Godolphin, the National Football League and other sports authorities and private backers, but more is needed.

I’m aware my bouts of concussion through racing and hunting falls in the last 20 years have left their mark. My memory’s like a jigsaw; all the pieces are present but scattered across a table. A ‘bang’ last year has resulted in me forgetting basic words. Adjectives vanish from my brain mid-sentence leaving me looking vacant and feeling foolish.

Almost every jockey has been concussed. Former champions Stan Mellor, John Francome, Peter Scudamore and Tony McCoy have enlisted in the study. A personal hero Richard Dunwoody was concussed six times in his career. “As professional jockeys, with a fall every 14 rides, it was accepted we would suffer concussion, we gave little thought as to what the long-term effects of repetitive head injuries would be,” he said.

It’s common practice for jockeys to outwit medical staff on the racecourse to keep riding. The first time Dunwoody was concussed he woke up in the ambulance room and was signed off by the doctor. After that, he would go on to automatic pilot and convince doctors he was fine.

On the day it hit the newspapers he was quitting as first jockey to trainer Martin Pipe, Dunwoody took a bad fall at Hereford.

“I came in, told Martin I was OK, sat in the weighing room and picked up The Sporting Life to see what I was riding in the next because I couldn’t remember,” he said. “I then saw the headline ‘Dunwoody leaves Pipe’ and, even though it was a decision three months in the making I thought ‘why on earth have I left Pipe’s? Further down the piece it said, ‘Dunwoody, who recently left his wife...’ and I thought ‘blimey, I’ve left my wife as well, why have I done that?”

Richard has now become an ambassador for Concussion In Sport, a study which will hopefully offer help to future generations of sporting greats.