Injured in a severe fall at Newcastle three months ago, the Group 1-winning jockey is currently located at the Spinal Unit of the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesborough. Also a Grand National winner, Lee is planning to modify his house in order to move home in the next few months. A JustGiving page was set up for Lee shortly after his accident and it has raised over £190,000 to date.

Lee's statement, released via the IJF, read as follows: “It's three months now since my accident and I thought it was appropriate for me to say something publicly for the first time.

“Frankly, I've been overwhelmed by the unbelievable support and good wishes sent by everyone and I'd like to thank you all so much on behalf of myself, my wife Becky and our children, Amy and Robbie.

“It feels like I'm in a bit of a bubble here at the James Cook Spinal Unit but the girls share with me all the messages that they are receiving and every single one is appreciated, as is the support of my great friends who continue to visit me so regularly and keep my spirits up.

“I never really considered that I had achieved that much as a jockey and it seems crazy that so many people are thinking of us all. I can't deny it has been–and continues to be–hard for us all, but these messages help us all so much.

“I would also like to thank the team of nurses here who are just unbelievable in the around the clock care and support they offer us all.

“As most of you know, the injuries I have suffered are life-changing and there is a long road ahead. But we have just received planning permission so that work can start to adapt our home in the hope that I will be able to leave hospital at some stage in the next few months.

“Thank you again. I am truly humbled and grateful.”

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In a statement released by the Injured Jockeys Fund, the 14-time Champion National Hunt trainer, with whom Kirkby was based, described Kirkby as “one of our best, hardworking lads.”

Nicholls said, “Life is so hard sometimes, winners totally insignificant compared to what has happened today. Sadly, Keagan Kirkby, one of our best, hardworking lads lost his life today riding in a point-to-point. All at Team Ditcheat are mortified. Thoughts with all his friends and family.”

According to the IFJ, the incident occurred on the second circuit of the final race, when the rider's mount ran out through the wing of a fence. Despite immediate attention by the on-course medical team as well as additional support from a 999 Helicopter Emergency Services crew, Kirkby could not be saved.

Kirkby joined Nicholls's operation in 2019 and had been awarded employee of the month in December 2021. He was also shortlisted for the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards in the Rider/Groom category for 2024.

“We are devastated to hear the tragic news regarding the fatal injuries sustained by Keagan Kirkby. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and everyone at the yard of Paul Nicholls. The entire Racing industry will be in mourning at the loss of someone so young and with such potential,” said British Horseracing Authority (BHA) Chief Executive Julie Harrington.

“The esteem in which he was held is clear from the fact that he was nominated for the Rider/Groom category of the 2024 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, and made it through to the final 10 in his category. The nomination spoke of Keagan's qualities as a thoughtful rider who develops a personal bond with his horses, understands their characters and adapts his riding accordingly, as well as his affable, helpful nature and popularity on the yard. We call on everyone to respect the privacy of Keagan's family and the Paul Nicholls yard.”

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Also a Group 1-winning rider on the Flat, Lee was unseated from Ben Macdui (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) during the start of a synthetic handicap last Friday. Currently, he has been diagnosed with an unstable cervical fracture which has damaged his spinal cord, and has also undergone two surgeries to stabilise the fractures and protect his spinal cord further.

The IJF said in a statement, “Graham has made positive progress in the last 24 hours and has been able to talk normally with his family for short periods when his ventilator is turned down.

“He has been reviewed by his spinal consultant and when a bed becomes available in the ITU at James Cook Hospital, Middlesborough, he will be transferred closer to home.

“Graham and his family want to thank everyone for their continued and overwhelming support.”

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The 47-year-old has damage to his spinal cord and other complications. His condition has been described as “very serious.”

On Monday, his former weighing-room colleague Sir Anthony McCoy and Jack Berry, respectively president and vice-president of the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF), released a joint-statement which read, “Like everyone in racing, we at the Injured Jockeys Fund are devastated at the news of the injuries that Graham Lee sustained from his horrific fall at Newcastle on Friday. All our thoughts are with Graham, his wife Becky, and their family.

“As bad as Graham's injuries are, please do rest assured that our team at the IJF will look after his needs to assist him in his recovery and predicament for as long as it takes. Whatever help his family needs, we will be there to there to provide it.”

 A former jump jockey with more than 1,000 wins to his name, including the 2004 Grand National aboard Amberleigh House (Ire), the Irish-born, British-based Lee turned his attention to the Flat in 2012. His major wins in this sphere include the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot on Trip To Paris (Ire) and the Nunthorpe S. with Alpha Delphini (GB).

Julie Harrington, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, added her support to Lee. She said, “We are shocked to hear the distressing news regarding the injuries suffered by Graham Lee. Our thoughts are with his family and friends and the whole sport is praying for one of its finest ambassadors. We are doing everything we can to support Graham and his family, and we ask that everyone respect the privacy of his family at this time.”

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“I'm slightly overwhelmed to be honest. The support and donations have been amazing, and everyone who's got involved have just been fantastic,” said Pritchard Webb when speaking at the finish line. “Without those people, I just wouldn't have got up that hill on that first day – AP literally took his shoes off and pushed me up! We were not going to be defeated. There are too many people to thank, but I owe so much gratitude to my mum and dad for doing it with me.”

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Simon Durrant, General Manager of Epsom Downs Racecourse, said, “As part of the official celebrations for The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, we felt that it was important to highlight Her Majesty's passion both for racing and the horse in general.

“Over the 70 years of her reign, The Queen's interest extends far beyond what happens on the track and we feel it is important that this is both recognised and celebrated.

“The Racing Showcase on The Hill will enable the public to engage with and learn more about many aspects of racing and the wider equine world. I am delighted that so many organisations have agreed to participate and hopefully their efforts to educate, inform and inspire will show just what a fantastic industry and sport we work in.”

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“It is with deep sadness that we have to share the tragic news that Lorna Brooke passed away yesterday,” the IJF statement said. “Her family thank everyone for their kindness in the last few weeks, particularly the staff at Southmead Hospital who were so professional. They will be having a private funeral and will hold a celebration of Lorna's life once Covid restrictions allow.”

Brooke's biggest win as a rider was aboard Moonlone Lane (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) at 25-1 in the Ladies Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse for trainer Paul Stafford in 2015.Overall, she celebrated 17 winners in Great Britain and Ireland since 2001/2002.

“We are deeply saddened to learn the tragic news of Lorna Brooke's passing,” the British Horseracing Authority said in a statement. “The entire racing community is in mourning today and our thoughts are with Lorna's family and friends.

“We ask for the privacy of Lorna's family to be respected at this time and we await the opportunity to celebrate her young life when restrictions allow.”

The Chief Executive of the BHA, Julie Harrington, said, “Everybody at the BHA is devastated by this news. Lorna was a much-loved member of our sport, in which she and her family are steeped.

“Lorna demonstrated many of the qualities that make British racing so special. She was a proud competitor and somebody who was driven by an abundance of love not only for the sport but for the horses she competed with.

“My thoughts, along with everybody else who loves racing, are with Lorna's family, friends and colleagues at this dreadful time.”

The Racecourse Association said in a statement, “The Racecourse Association is deeply saddened by the tragic news of Lorna Brooke's death as a result of injuries sustained following a fall whilst race-riding at Taunton Racecourse on Thursday, Apr. 8.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with Lorna's family and friends during this time. The RCA is in contact with Taunton Racecourse and relevant authorities, offering our support as required. All racecourses racing today will observe a period of silence and display black armbands as a mark of respect to Lorna's memory.”

The Professional Jockeys Association added in a statement, “This is a devastating reminder of the dangers our brave men and women face and our thoughts and prayers are with Lorna's family, friends and colleagues. Lorna was an incredibly hard working, popular member of the weighing room and whilst her licence was as an amateur jockey, she was a professional in every other sense. We have lost one of our own and she will be sorely missed.”

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Powered by volunteers, Jockeys and Jeans, founded by five former riders in late 2014, has raised $1.6 million for about 60 disabled former jockeys who receive a monthly $1,000 stipend from the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. The annual Jockeys and Jeans fundraising event is held at a separate track each year. The organization's planned event at Churchill Downs last fall had to be canceled due to the pandemic, but the group is planning an event this summer and possibly a virtual event this spring. Both will be announced at a later date.

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But will these temporary solutions become permanent when life returns to normal and might eliminating the saunas in jockeys’ quarters ultimately prove to be a solution that helps riders stay healthy? These are questions already being discussed.

The saunas, which many saw as a necessary evil, are a small, confined space where several jockeys might congregate. With social distancing a means to combat the virus, tracks had no choice but to shut them down. Jockeys’ Guild President and CEO Terry Meyocks estimates that 75% of all jockeys go into the box before riding to shed a few pounds. For them, losing access to the hot box could have been a serious problem, but several tracks stepped in and allowed jockeys to ride at higher weights. It started at Gulfstream, where three pounds were added to what would have been the weight a horse carried in the pre-COVID-19 world.

“I think Gulfstream had the right idea,” jockey Tyler Gaffalione said. “With social distancing and wanting to keep everyone spread out, going into the hot box and to be in a confined area with numerous other guys is too risky. Tracks have done the right thing helping us jockeys.”

Monmouth Park has also added three pounds to the weight a horse carries and the least any journeyman jockey carried on the card that featured the GI Haskell S. was 118 pounds. With NYRA not yet making any adjustments to the weights, jockeys at Saratoga have taken matters into their own hands. No matter how much weight their horse is assigned, no journeyman jockey will ride at less than 120 pounds. Jockeys who can ride at a lighter weight will make sure that they are overweight, oftentimes by using a heavier saddle than they would normally use.

Changes have also been made overseas. In Ireland, two pounds have been added to the scale of weights. In Australia, they added one kilogram, the equivalent of 2.2 pounds.

For now, the days of seeing a journeyman rider having to make 114 or 115 pounds have disappeared.

“You have to be happy with this,” said Monmouth regular Antonio Gallardo. “I don’t mind having to lose weight. We used to be able to go in the hot box or use a gym. You can jog outside, but what happens when it rains or it’s too hot or cold? Then you don’t have anything and how can you lose weight? You really need something. There are some jockeys who are really light. They don’t care. But what about the rest of the jockeys? When you do 116, that means when you are naked you have to weigh 113 or 112 to do that. Only bug boys can do that. It would be great if the minimum weight was always 118.”

Jockeys are obviously pleased to be able to tack on a few extra pounds and the changes haven’t led to any noticeable backlash from trainers, owners or gamblers. Many seem to not have even noticed that the weights have changed. The Jockeys’ Guild and its members have long been campaigning for tracks to raise the scale of weights and Meyocks said the issue is not going to go away.

“It’s always been on our list to have the scale of weights raised,” he said. “For the most part, tracks have done that. Is it 100% where we’d like it to be? No. We understand you can’t continue to increase them and increase them more. There is a fine line. We have a situation at the NYRA tracks where there are only three or four jockeys who can do 116 without having to pull weight. These kids coming up are bigger now than they ever were.”

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said he’d be all for maintaining the weights at current levels once the hot boxes are re-opened.

“Everybody has dealt with it and nobody is complaining about it,” he said. “It’s been a positive thing for everyone. We’ve all been able to maintain our weight and those couple of extra pounds has really helped some people.”

In Europe, the coronavirus forced the sport to look at whether or not providing easy access to a hot box is ultimately the right thing to do.

“We’ve been wanting to remove saunas from the racecourse environment for some time and for various reasons we haven’t,” Lisa Hancock, the president of the Injured Jockeys Fund told the TDN.  “Now, the jockeys can’t use the saunas and they’re finding they don’t need them and there are much better and healthier ways of maintaining appropriate weight. It’s things like that that we’ll be really trying to keep as the new norm. I think there are some real benefits to the restrictions and we’ll hopefully take some good points away from it. As things get back to normal we’ll hopefully create a new normal that might even be a little bit better.”

Hernandez said he sees, with the saunas shut down, more jockeys taking better care of themselves.

“We’ve all been doing what we have to do with no hot box,” he said. “People are using different methods. Guys are exercising more and watching their weight better. Everyone is trying to make adjustments to the situation.”

There’s little doubt that spending too much time in the hot box can have a negative impact on the physical and mental health of a jockey. It can’t be easy to ride, particularly on a hot day, after dehydrating yourself. In some cases, it has been fatal. A handful over the years have died from the effects of reducing and starving themselves.

Is there a solution that works for everyone? Would tracks be willing to raise the scale of weights permanently if jockeys agreed to have the saunas removed from their quarters?

“I don’t know,” said Joe Bravo. “I wasn’t a guy sitting in there hours on end but it was an everyday thing for me. If they took it away I’d miss it.”

Gaffalione is open to the idea.

“It would be an adjustment,” he said. “If you look into the science of it, it might be good having fewer people having to reduce and lose that much weight in a day then have to perform in 90 degree weather. That has to be a health risk.”

Gaffalione is lucky in that he doesn’t have to take drastic measures in order to ride. But what of those that do? For now, they are getting a break, sometimes as much as three pounds. Where this goes after the coronavirus has stopped upending everyone’s life is a question that has yet to be answered.

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Now, life is a lot slower for Tate and his fellow jockeys.

When racing returned in Britain on June 1 after an 11-week shutdown due to coronavirus, one of the British Horseracing Authority’s safety measures was the restriction of jockeys to riding one meeting per day.

“With the ability to do one meeting, the knock-on effect is that at the start of the week, jockeys have to decide where they’re going,” Tate explained while driving to an evening meeting at Leicester in late June, where he won on his lone mount. “Generally, seven days before as soon as preliminary entries come out, jockeys will decide where they’re going. Before, when jockeys could do multiple meetings, the top 20 jockeys would book rides at every meeting and decide the day of declarations where they were going to go. This has a knock-on effect on the rest of racing because a lot of jockeys will be always waiting to see what another jockey does, where he goes. You’re waiting on someone else to make a decision before you can plan your week. Being able to ride at just one meeting per day, everyone decides at the start of the week.”

This forced slowdown means more opportunities spread out among more riders, more down time and less manic schedules. It’s not inconceivable, either, that it could save lives.

On June 23, racing was rocked by the death of jockey Liam Treadwell, who was found dead in his home at the age of 34. The Grand National-winning rider had spoken openly in the past of dealing with depression and the negative side effects of concussions, and encouraged his fellow jockeys to be proactive and seek help.

Sadly, this was not an isolated incident. Just four months prior to his death, Treadwell had been a pallbearer for his friend James Banks, a retired jockey who took his own life at 36 years of age. In late May Mick Curran, the former work rider of Kingman (GB) and Golden Horn (GB), tragically lost his own mental health battles. The list grows as one looks back down the years.

A 2018 study on the mental health and well-being of jockeys conducted in Ireland and published in the Journal of Human Sport and Exercise found that 54% of jockeys displayed symptoms of psychological distress, depression or anxiety. When filtering out amateurs, the figure rose to 57% for professional jockeys.

Such conditions are not uncommon in professional athletes; a 2017 study cited in the Irish paper revealed that 47.8% of elite athletes displayed symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is likely that pressure to perform, close public scrutiny, the physical and psychological toll of injuries, burnout from constant training and the lack of a stable support system due to constant relocation foster such symptoms.

For jockeys, add to this a significantly heightened chance of injury, the pressure to maintain low weights, a high ratio of losses to victories and many long and lonely hours spent on the road and it may not come as a surprise that even among elite athletes jockeys are fighting unparalleled mental challenges.

Coronavirus has brought with it its own unique set of challenges, and while it may seem insensitive to suggest that such a devastating turn of events could bring with it unforeseen positives, that certainly seems to be the case when it comes to the forced slowdown of British jockeys; what started as a necessary safety precaution has led to unforeseen positive developments and opportunities on the mental health front for these athletes. Tate said he is far from alone among the jockey colony in noticing the favourable outcomes of being restricted to one meeting per day.

“Everyone seems very much on the same page that it only provides benefits for everyone,” he said. “It takes off a lot of pressure and allows you to concentrate a lot more on the job you’re trying to do that day as well as being able to structure a life away from the sport, giving you time to be at home. It has an overall benefit to your well-being.

“For me in particular, I’m picking up a lot more rides because I’m able to plan seven days before where I’m going to be. Prior to lockdown I’d be looking to get the majority of my rides within the 48-hour window of the race. From the 48 hour declarations, my agent would have two hours within that 48-hour window to try to get me spare rides, whereas now he’s able to plan for seven days. It’s such an increase in time to prepare and it has untold benefits. When you’re up at five, your first ride is at half-twelve and your last ride is at nine and you’re doing over 600 miles that day, three days in a row; on the final day, you’re not the same person you were three days ago.”

Tate acknowledged that a less hectic schedule allows him to give much more to each horse he rides and each trainer that hires him.

“Every time we go to a race and we’re being put up by an owner and trainer we’re being paid to be there, to do a job, and when you’re turning up with your mind in other places and you’re thinking about whether you have to run off to another meeting as soon as you finishing riding this race, you’re not doing that owner and trainer justice on their horse,” he said. “Trying to run a business like that; as lucky as I am to ride horses for a living, it is still a business and half the time you’re letting people down. You’re never sticking to a decision because you’re always having to keep your options open because nobody else around you is willing to make a decision. It [one meeting per day] is just making life so much more straightforward. It doesn’t just give you the benefit of being able to have a social and family life; it gives you the ability to give racing more of yourself on a daily basis. It’s very difficult when you’re doing two meetings every day to be your best self and turn up motivated every day.”

Lisa Hancock, chairman of the Injured Jockeys Fund, said her organization does “a significant amount in terms of mental health provision, but we want to do more and we can do more.” Hancock can empathize with the pressures on a jockey as a former amateur rider herself.

“It’s the constant competitiveness and the fact that they are often on their own,” she said. “So they’ve driven 200 miles for maybe one ride at a stone under what might be their normal riding weight. They’ve got beaten, so they’re having to cope with a defeat, and then they’re driving 200 miles back, still having not eaten, on their own. So there’s a huge amount of time to fester on that disappointment when your brain simply isn’t functioning at 100% because it’s dehydrated. And if you do that time after time after time, it’s not good for you. It’s been well-documented that’s what jockeys are coping with often and it’s only the top jockeys who have the luxury of having a driver or maybe even access to an airplane. For the run-of-the-mill jockey it’s really tough. I don’t know what the percentage is of wins to defeats but there are a hell of a lot more defeats. It’s managing that and being able to hold your head up high and then the next day you’re going again, and it’s day after day after day.”

Even the sport’s most elite riders are not immune to a mental toll; when six-time champion jockey Kieren Fallon announced his retirement from the saddle in the summer of 2016, it was to address an ongoing fight against depression. While Fallon had fallen short of his loftiest heights in the twilight of his career, he was once prolific enough to have won three Epsom Derbys and 16 British Classics among big-race successes across the globe.

“When you’re doing well you get busier, and you can’t say no to work in racing,” Tate said. “It’s income you’re turning down, and it becomes a case of ‘would I like to see my family, or would I like to provide for my family?’ That’s the question you’re dealing with and that’s compounded when jockeys are doing two meetings a day and the stress is building.

“The average age of retirement for a jockey is very young compared to the average population. I think that comes naturally down to the mental toll. It’s a very physical job but it’s not the fact that the body can’t do it anymore; it’s that the mind won’t allow the body to do it anymore. My dad has always said to me, ‘racing will be finished with you before you’re finished with racing.’ I’ve been riding 10 years now and I’ve seen it every day. Jockeys struggle to stay in the fight, struggle to keep going through slow times and bad times. It’s a fight against the tide and ultimately racing will wear you down. A few are lucky, but not many are. And you’re hopefully able to make a living in that time. I’ve known a great deal of jockeys that one day turn around and realize they just can’t do it anymore.”

Hancock was in agreement with Tate that coronavirus health measures have highlighted potentially better ways of doing things.

“We work really closely with the Professional Jockeys Association and likewise Dr. Jerry Hill with the British Horseracing Authority,” Hancock said. “There are a number of things that we’ve been musing about for months and yet it’s taken something like this to bring some of them actually into fruition. I was speaking with Dr. Hill earlier today and we were saying now is the opportunity to try to retain some of those good points, the no use of the saunas being an example. We’ve been wanting to remove saunas from the racecourse environment for some time and for various reasons we haven’t. Now, the jockeys can’t use the saunas and they’re finding they don’t need them and there are much better and healthier ways of maintaining appropriate weight. It’s things like that that we’ll be really trying to keep as the new norm. I think there are some real benefits to the restrictions and we’ll hopefully take some good points away from it and as things get back to normal we’ll hopefully create a new normal that might even be a little bit better.”

Mental health support provided by the IJF, PJA and BHA already includes 24-hour hotlines, assessments and expert referrals, and Hancock outlined some of the ways the organizations are working together to strengthen their services.

“We’re already engaged with a clinical psychologist body who are helping us with our overall structure and strategy and within that we will be increasing our level of mental health knowledge amongst our own in-house team, but perhaps more importantly we’ll be improving the ways we can make referrals and signpost experts because of course what we’re not is a mental health charity and we certainly can’t be that,” she said. “But we are in regular contact with jockeys, those both currently licensed and retired, and it’s our belief that we need to be able to highlight those who might not be in the most robust mental health and to support them as proficiently and expertly as we can. That means early awareness of it, flagging it up, making it not a taboo subject. We already have psychologists within our three rehab centres and we’ll be looking to enhance that provision going forward.”

Hancock said they are getting in on the ground level, too, with aspiring riders.

“One of our rehab centres, the Peter O’Sullevan House in Newmarket, is linked to the British Racing School,” she explained. “We think it’s very important to educate jockeys in their very formative years so we’ll be introducing them to mental well-being and clinical psychologists as the norm at the very early stages of their careers in racing.”

Hancock said that when a jockey comes in for rehabilitation from an injury, it is an opportunity to go over all aspects of their well-being with a fine-tooth comb.

“A jockey may come in because they have a broken clavicle, but that’s actually a fantastic opportunity for us to engage them with a nutritionist, and perhaps a sports psychologist or to unravel the niggling knee problem they’ve been harbouring for two years and haven’t had the time or the energy to do anything about,” she said. “Quite often we find the jockey that came in with a broken clavicle two months later is in a much better place all around because we’ve been able to give them really focused care and attention. I’m really proud that we do offer that to our jockeys.

“They’re not forced to ride, this is their chosen career and they do love it, they thrive on the adreneline and the buzz, but even so as a supporting charity we recognize that when they come to us for rehab it’s actually an opportunity to sort of rebuild them in every respect.”

Tate said greater awareness and a desire to implement positive change are crucial in the fight against mental illness for jockeys.

“The mental side of it is almost something you’re never aware of until it comes upon you,” he said. “I think 90% of the jockeys I come across I could describe as energetic characters that know how lucky they are to do their jobs. Somewhere along the line, you’ll find you can meet them down the line and they’re not quite that person you once saw. That happens, but there is definitely something within racing that triggers this spiral. There needs to be at least a greater awareness out there for people to acknowledge it and change it. I think being able to structure better lifestyles is only going to have a positive impact. It’s like with anything, sometimes you have to take three steps back to take five steps forward so hopefully we’ll do that here.”

“There are a lot of positives to take from this dreadful situation,” Hancock concurred. “It’s such a crass thing to say that from a disaster you can take opportunities, but actually that’s the very best thing we can do.”

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