Phil Kirby, the trainer of the high-class chaser Kings Grey, said on Thursday that he will run the horse in a selling hurdle if necessary to allow the jockey Brian Toomey to complete one of the most remarkable recoveries from major injury that the sport has seen.
Toomey suffered serious head injuries and spent a fortnight in an induced coma following a fall in a handicap hurdle at Perth in July 2013. Part of his skull was removed to reduce swelling on his brain and he then remained in hospital for nearly six months, but he was granted a new jockeys’ licence earlier this month and is keen to resume his career in the saddle.
Kings Grey, a recent winner of a Class Three handicap chase at Aintree off a mark of 128, has been earmarked for Toomey’s return to action and Kirby is determined to do all he can to ensure that the jockey comes back with a winner.
“We’re not sure where we’re going yet, nothing is decided and it’s still a bit up in the air,” Kirby said. “But Brian will ride him when we find the right race. The horse is ready to go, it’s just a matter of finding the right race in the next fortnight or three weeks.
“We’d obviously love to give him a winner on his first ride back and that’s what we’re trying to do, but it’s not going to be easy. The horse is a chaser really, but we might run him over hurdles, but that’s not because Brian wants to start off over hurdles or anything.”
One possible target for Toomey and Kings Grey is a novice selling hurdle over two-and-a-half miles at Southwell’s Family Fun Day meeting on 12 July. Despite his chase rating in the high 120s, Kings Grey is qualified to run as he remains a novice over hurdles, having raced eight times over timber without success. Last year, the Class Four event was won by Stonemadforspeed, who was subsequently rated 105, from Debt To Society, who had an official rating of 98, and Kings Grey would almost certainly start at long odds-on should he line up. Given Toomey’s remarkable recovery from injury, meanwhile, it would also be surprising if Kings Grey attracted any bids at the subsequent auction.
“The owners aren’t against running him in a selling hurdle if it comes to it,” Kirby said. “I know there’s a seller coming up at Southwell and he would look thrown in on his chase mark, but then he is an 11-year-old and there’s probably a reason he hasn’t won over hurdles.”
Seamour, an ante-post gamble for the historic John Smith’s Northumberland Plate at Newcastle on Saturday, was a drifter in the market on Thursday after he was drawn in the widest possible stall for the two-mile handicap.
Brian Ellison, Seamour’s trainer, was born in Newcastle on Plate day in 1952 and has nurtured a lifelong ambition to win the “Pitmen’s Derby”. Seamour, however, will need to beat 19 rivals from the worst of the draw after being allocated stall 22 in a maximum field of 20 with two reserves.
Seamour is the shortest price of four Ellison-trained runners in Saturday’s race, which will be the last run on the turf course at Newcastle before it is replaced by a new all-weather surface.
Seamour was top-priced at 8-1 favourite on Thursday morning, but had been replaced at the head of the market by Roger Charlton’s Quest For More by late afternoon. Quest For More is a 9-1 chance with Stan James, while Seamour and Gabrial’s King, from Richard Fahey’s stable, can be backed at 10-1.
Jack Hobbs, the runner-up behind Golden Horn in the Derby at Epsom earlier this month, is top-priced at 4-5 to win the Irish equivalent after eight horses were declared for the Classic at The Curragh on Saturday.
Ryan Moore will ride Highland Reel, the 11-2 second-favourite, who was the runner-up behind New Bay in the French Derby over 10 furlongs at Chantilly in May. Pleascach, Jim Bolger’s Irish 1,000 Guineas winner, was the only name scratched from the five-day declarations at the overnight stage.
Matthew Hopkins, a former apprentice jockey who has not had a ride in public since last November, has been banned from racing for three years by the British Horseracing Authority’s disciplinary panel after being found guilty of both backing and laying horses on betting exchanges.
Hopkins has been banned with immediate effect until 24 June 2018. The BHA will publish the reasons for the panel’s decision at a later date.