Bentley rules out jump racing switch

Dubai: English flat-racing jockey Harry Bentley has ruled out a move to jump racing, calling it “an accident waiting to happen”.

His comments preceded JT McNamara’s serious neck injury in a fall at the Cheltenham Festival in the UK last week. The 37-year-old Irish amateur remains in a coma after his mount Galaxy Rock fell at the first fence in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup.

He was airlifted to Bristol’s Frenchay Hospital where doctors have confirmed fractures to his C3 and C4 vertebrae, but they have ruled out brain damage. The medics said it’s too early to comment on his possible recovery period.

“The injuries are ridiculous,” said Bentley, 20, when asked by Gulf News, before the incident, if he would ever consider a switch to jump racing.

“It’s a great sport and if you are in the top ten in the country you would make a good living, but anything below that and you would struggle.

“Injuries are severe and the seasons are very short. Also the short season that there is gets interfered by frost or snow, so it’s not particularly something that I would want to do.”

Acknowledging that the Grand National and Cheltenham Festival are two of the most prestigious events in the British sporting calendar, Bentley added: “I would love to have one good crack at it, but I wouldn’t think of it as a full-time option.”