Flat jockey Fran Berry has retired from the saddle with immediate effect. The 38-year-old suffered spinal injuries in a fall at Wolverhampton on Jan. 29–and, after consultation with his surgeon, he has been advised to quit race-riding.
“For the past 23 years, I have got to live out my childhood dream of being a jockey,” Berry told www.sportinglife.com, for who he will continue to write his regular blog. “But following recent scans and discussions with my medical team headed by my surgeon Dr. Mike Foy, as well as Dr. Jerry Hill, I have to accept that the dream is now over and that due to the injuries sustained in Wolverhampton on Jan. 29, I will not be able to make a return to race-riding.
“While this news is heartbreaking on one level, I am fully aware how lucky I am. Riding has been a fantastic adventure for me, and I am very grateful for the way it allowed my family and me to experience the world and gain many friends over that time.”
Berry will pursue other ventures–including media work, and is poised to join the Racing TV team of pundits, that media outlet announced on Monday.
All told, Berry booted home 1,387 winners, including four in the National Hunt sphere, with the remainder on the Flat primarily in Ireland. He rode a winner during the Cheltenham Festival at the age of only 18-the Christy Roche-trained Khayrawani (Ire) (Caerleon) in the Coral Cup for JP McManus. Berry's father Frank, a former Irish champion jump jockey, is McManus's racing manager.
The understudy to Mick Kinane in the John Oxx yard following a switch to the Flat, Berry was a four-time runner-up in the Irish Jockeys' Championship (2004, 2005, 2008, 2010) and won the 2010 G1 National S. with Pathfork (Distorted Humor) for Jessica Harrington. Berry also rode in Japan and his mounts won 33 other group races. In addition to Pathfork's Group 1 win, Berry also partnered Curtain Call (Fr) (Sadler's Wells) in the G2 Beresford S., Duff (Ire) (Spinning World) in the G2 Park S., Laughing Lashes (Mr. Greeley) in the G2 Debutante S., Dragon Pulse (Ire) (Kyllachy {GB}) in the G2 Futurity S. and Kool Kompany (Ire) (Jeremy) in the G2 Railway S.
Beginning in 2016, Berry moved his tack and family to Britain to ride for Ralph Beckett and later on went freelance. In 2018 the Irishman teamed up with David Menuisier's Thundering Blue (Exchange Rate) and the duo won both the G2 York S. and G3 Stockholm Cup International and was runner-up in the GI Pattison Canadian International S. and third in the G1 Juddmonte International S.
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