Bell Rings In New Year Back Where She Belongs

Many goals set by jockeys for 2017 will take most of the year to achieve. For Sammy Jo Bell, a major step had already been taken by Jan. 2 and she could be a long way further within another month.

The Northern Irishwoman was back on the gallops for the first time since last May, the result of a fractured pelvis when a horse reared up on the way to the start for a race at Carlisle and fell on top of her. The injury required plates to be inserted and there was no chance of improving on her breakthrough season of 28 winners in 2015.

“I was a bit stiff and sore for the first couple of days but it's back to normal now,” she reported.

“The pelvis seemed OK, the arms and legs were a bit stiff, but apart from that everything's alright. To think about it now, it has gone past quite quickly. I got plates in about four days after the accident and wasn't in any pain after that.”

It could not exactly be described as a happy coincidence, but a fortunate one nonetheless, that Jack Berry House is in Malton, where Bell has been based with Richard Fahey for four years. The Injured Jockeys Fund's North Yorkshire facility has proved invaluable with her rehabilitation.

“If it happened to any general person, they would probably have to pay a lot money for that kind of physiotherapy and help,” she said.

“I've been off seven months in all, and eight weeks of that I was in a wheelchair. After that I was in the gym at Jack Berry House every day Monday to Friday. For six to eight weeks I was on crutches and I could only partially weight bear so it was just stuff with my arms.

“They have a hydrotherapy pool, which is fabulous, you can run in that before you can actually run on a treadmill. It kept me in a routine and got me fit.”

The next stage in Bell's programme will be similarly gradual.

She explained: “I decided that at the start of February I'd try to get back on the track, it gives me a month or so before the turf starts. That would be a loose target.

“I just want to feel completely fit to race ride. No matter how much gym work you do, it's not the same as riding a horse. I've started riding the ones that are a bit quieter and don't pull as much but I'll need to be riding everything when I'm back.”

Bell might have been regarded as an overnight success after gaining wider recognition at the Shergar Cup international jockeys' competition in August 2015. She was invited into the Girls' side as a late replacement and took it by storm, with two winners securing both the individual and team titles. It looked as if a modest, photogenic star had been born, but perhaps only in the eyes of the media.

“If anything it got a bit quieter after that,” she said. “It was probably just the time of year, the evening meetings were finishing, but nothing changed.”

It is not like she is afraid of hard work; a baptism of fire from six months with Jim Bolger as a 17-year-old would take care of that. Bell was later to spend three and a half years working for Kevin Prendergast on the Curragh.

The challenge begins anew to re-establish herself in the minds of owners and trainers.

“It's quite exciting now because it feels like I'm starting again, really. It's something to look forward to, seeing how I get on when I get going again. It definitely feels different, when you have a break sometimes it's not exactly easy to get back into it.

“It is a bit (daunting), especially now I'm no longer an apprentice. I was 26 in the last week of December, so I will have to turn professional, which makes it probably a bit harder. I still have my 3lb claim, at least that might help a little bit.”

This distinction means she can now receive 100% of her riding fees and prize-money, rather than sharing with a trainer––but no longer be a big fish in restricted apprentice races.

After Bell's emergence came that of Josephine Gordon, last year's champion apprentice who has recently been given a prominent role at Hugo Palmer's Newmarket stable. Gordon's rise through the ranks can only offer encouragement.

“She got going in the first six months before I got injured and I wouldn't have seen her much as we're in different ends of the country. She's done a fantastic job for girls, but she rides like a boy really!”

A bonus of the enforced absence was that it even allowed Bell a rare chance to return home to County Antrim.

“I sort of accepted I wasn't riding for six months and tried to enjoy life a bit,” she said. “Nothing physical, just spending time with friends and family, even to be able to do things at the weekend and have a bit of a normal life, which you don't normally get.”

She is clearly delighted, though, to have returned to the atypical life of a jockey. With the likes of Group 1 winner Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) and Queen Kindly (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Fahey yard, now is a time of hopes and dreams.

“It's all guns blazing, everyone's excited to see how the 2-year-olds are, and any nice horses from last year. I know most of the staff pretty well, it just feels like back to normal and back to some graft.”