‘Miracle’ jockey who was pronounced dead after fall set to become racing trainer

Brian Toomey, who was pronounced dead for six seconds after he suffered a horrific head injury in a fall in a jumps race, has been granted a training licence

A former jump jockey who was so severely injured in a racing fall that he was declared dead by paramedics has cleared another obstacle and is to start training.

Brian Toomey was a promising young rider who had partnered 49 winners when h’s life changed forever as a result of a fall in a hurdle race at Perth in 2013.

He spent the next two weeks in an induced coma in hospital where surgeons had to remove part of his skull to reduce swelling on the brain. At one point doctors put his chances of survival at three per cent.

Yet not only did he pull through, but against all odds, and plenty in his circle who cautioned against it, he briefly resumed his riding career.

Now ten years after the accident he has completed the BHA modules to be granted a training licence. The former assistant to Grand National-winning trainer Dr Richard Newland, who has also worked for Clive Cox, will train from stables in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, owned by recently retired trainer Martin Bosley.

“My injury was back in 2013 when I spent six months in hospital then it took more than a year to recover it was such a serious head injury,” said Toomey, 34.

“I got my licence to be a jockey again 704 days later and rode for nearly a season but trainers and owners were just a bit too worried to give me an opportunity in case I got a fall again.”

Toomey will head to the sales next week to find horses to fill the yard. He said: “I have a few who have said they will support me by sending horses but I now have to sell myself.

“I know I’m the luckiest man in the world. I have to live with what happened to me forever. I have no effects from it. My brain is fine. I don’t believe I am a walking miracle but it’s incredible what I have actually been through.

“I lost consciousness for six seconds, I was in hospital for 157 nights, I got my licence back 704 days after the injury. They said I had a three percent chance of survival. It’s a crazy fact.”