George Baker remains in intensive care following his fall at St Moritz on Sunday. The Professional Jockey's Association provided the latest update on the jockey's condition on Monday afternoon when it posted on Twitter, “George Baker remains in intensive care in a stable condition. His wife Nicola is with him and we hope to issue a further update tomorrow.”
Baker was riding Boomerang Bob (Ire) (Aussie Rules) for Jamie Osborne when his mount was brought down after another of the runners put its foot in a hole and fell. The accident caused the remainder of the racing to be abandoned and lead to a number of British trainers in attendance to question the future viability of the meeting in its current time-slot.
“The best thing is, he's out of a coma, breathing on his own and able to move of his own accord,” Nicola Baker told Racing Post later that day. “Everything else is a bonus. He had a very severe concussion, but his CT scan came back okay and the best thing for him is sleep and time.”
Ralph Beckett, John Best and the injured jockey's namesake, George Baker, were all there to saddle runners and Baker, who has trained winners at the meeting in the past, was the least impressed with the situation. “It's all very sad as it's a magical place, but I will never bring another horse over again for the meeting,” Baker said.
On the other hand John Best spoke out in defense of the track and told the Racing Post, I walked the track with my jockey Kieran Fox and we all thought it was perfectly safe. There was nothing to suggest anything like this was going to happen.”
Ralph Beckett is another to have had success at St Moritz in the past and he felt the later start date was not a help. “It is sad as they have been racing quite safely here since 1907,” said Beckett. “However, this is the latest they have ever raced and you have to question that.”
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