Jockey Fran Berry announces retirement from riding following spinal injuries
Leading jockey Fran Berry has announced his retirement from race-riding after 23 years in the saddle.
Berry, 38, calls time on a highly successful career after consultation with his surgeon regarding spinal injuries suffered in an incident at Wolverhampton on January 29 this year. The Ian Williams-trained Bamako Du Chatelet clipped heels and stumbled badly, causing Berry to come down in the mile and three-quarter handicap.
Berry was hoping to return to action this spring despite serious "back and rib fractures", but due to medical advice has been forced to hang up his saddle with immediate effect and focus on work in the media.
Among other new ventures including RacingTV, Berry will continue in his role as a columnist on sportinglife.com and said: "For the past 23 years I have got to live out my childhood dream of being a jockey.
"But following recent scans and discussions with my medical team headed by my surgeon Dr. Mike Foy, as well as Dr. Jerry Hill, I have to accept that the dream is now over and that due to the injuries sustained in Wolverhampton on January 29, I will not be able to make a return to race riding.
"Whilst this news is heartbreaking on one level, I am fully aware how lucky I am.
"Riding has been a fantastic adventure for me and I am very grateful for the way it allowed my family and I to experience the world and gain many friends over that time.
"Sincere thanks to my sponsors Sky Bet, Sporting Life and all the trainers, owners, agents, stable staff, doctors and physios who have helped me along the way in the UK, Ireland and Japan.
"To my family, Laura, Jordan, Emma Jane for believing in me, Dad, Mum, Alan and our friends for all their support and sacrifices that they made for me over that time.
"I am really looking forward to the next chapter of my life and am delighted that I will be continuing my work with Sporting Life as well as joining the team at RacingTV."
Recalling the terrifying incident in January, Berry said: "I'd won a couple of races on Bamako Du Chatelet before, he’s a nice horse, and I was just making a run off the home bend.
"He was probably going to be second or third, and wouldn’t have won. I was going between horses and had loads of room, I was following Luke Morris through, but for whatever reason the horse on my outside edged ever so slightly left and my lad literally moved an inch to the right and I think he just caught his heel and went straight down.
"I was on the ground before I knew it and it all happened very quickly. Unfortunately, he came over me and I nearly brought another horse down too. It was pretty nasty and I’m very, very lucky. I’m genuinely glad to be standing and still walking around."
Berry's career began aged 15, riding his first winner on Loughmouge – trained by his father, Frank - at Navan in May 1996, and aged just 18 he struck gold at the 1999 Cheltenham Festival, guiding the JP McManus-owned and Christy Roche-trained Khayrawani home by a head in the Coral Cup.
He later switched back to concentrate on the Flat, becoming second jockey to Mick Kinane at John Oxx’s stable before taking over as leading jockey for Oxx in 2010.
In September 2010 he enjoyed a Group One winner on the Jessica Harrington-trained champion two-year-old Pathfork in the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh, where he beat Casamento and Zoffany.
Berry went on to enjoy more high-profile success on Dragon Pulse, also for Harrington, and the Richard Hannon-trained Kool Kompany, who took the Group Two Railway Stakes in 2014.
In 2016 the County Kildare-born rider moved to Britain to become stable jockey for Ralph Beckett before leaving by mutual consent to work as a freelance.
In 2018 Berry rode primarily for Henry Candy, David Evans and Ian Williams but also built up a close association with trainer David Menuisier, forging a successful partnership with popular grey Thundering Blue.
Thundering Blue won three times last year, including the Group Two Sky Bet York Stakes and the Group Three Stockholm Cup International at Bro Park, Sweden. The horse was also third in the Juddmonte International at York and runner-up to Desert Encounter in the Grade One Canadian International at Woodbine.
Berry was no stranger to riding abroad, having spent six winters in Japan where he rode 79 winners, including 19 Listed/Group races.
Berry’s international experience also includes a two-month spell in Singapore during 2010, where he rode four winners at Kranji, and the inaugural 2018 International Jockeys Challenge.
Ascot’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup – another team event – has also been kind to Berry in recent years, winning the Silver Saddle award for the leading rider on a couple of occasions including when Great Britain and Ireland took the top prize in August 2017.
Fran Berry's career in numbers...
Total winners: 1,387
Ireland winners: 1,057 (1 Group One, 4 Group 2, 29 Group 3, 56 Listed)
UK winners: 204 (200 Flat, 4 National Hunt)
Overseas winners: 126
Fran Berry’s career highlights...
1999 Coral Cup - Khayrawani
2007 Beresford Stakes – Curtain Call
2009 Park Stakes – Duff
2010 Beresford Stakes – Laughing Lashes
2010 National Stakes – Pathfork
2011 Futurity Stakes – Dragon Pulse
Ascot Stakes (2005, 2013, 2014) – Leg Spinner, Well Sharp, Domination
2014 Railway Stakes – Kool Kompany
2018 Chester Cup - Magic Circle
2018 Sky Bet York Stakes - Thundering Blue