George Baker, who won last year’s St Leger on Harbour Law, was airlifted to a trauma unit in Chur in Switzerland on Sunday morning after suffering a head injury in a fall at St Moritz’s White Turf event, which is staged on a snow-covered frozen lake.
Baker was in intensive care after losing consciousness. The Flat jockey’s agent, Guy Jewell, reported later: “George has woken up and, with the hospital releasing that news, I can only imagine they are pleased with his progress.
“He’d already had a CT scan and that has come back clear. They will obviously need to check that everything is working properly, and his wife is on her way out there.”
The incident led to the abandonment of the remainder of the meeting after a hole was discovered in the track and also prompted criticism of the course from the rider’s namesake, the trainer George Baker, who has enjoyed considerable success at the unique track.
Baker was riding Boomerang Bob for Jamie Osborne in the first race on the biggest day of the winter season at St Moritz. His horse fell after breaking both front legs about a furlong from the finishing line and then landed on the jockey, while also bringing down two following runners. Boomerang Bob was put down, while the other horses and riders involved in the incident escaped without any serious injuries.
Baker was knocked out in the fall but recovered consciousness during about 45 minutes of treatment on the track. He was then flown to a nearby trauma unit for further examination.
Racing has been staged on the frozen lake at St Moritz for more than a century and has regularly attracted horses from British stables. The scheduled feature event on Sunday’s abandoned card was the Grand Prix de St Mortiz, in which Baker was due to ride Osborne’s gelding English Channel, a former winner of the Blue Riband Trial at Epsom.
The Wiltshire trainer George Baker, who saddled Ancient Greece to become the first horse to win at three consecutive meetings at St Moritz during the 2013 season, said his stable no longer sends runners to the course due to concerns about its condition.
“We had some wonderful days there with Ancient Greece four years ago, some of the happiest days I’ve spent on a racecourse, but since then they have raced on conditions that would not be right or acceptable in any jurisdiction,” Baker said.
“Two years ago, when five horses fell there in a sprint, we decided with great sadness that we would not have any more runners there. It is a great shame, as it had been a big part of my life, but you need to move on.”
The organiser of the White Turf event issued a statement on the incident on its website on Sunday afternoon, suggesting that the track had been undermined by water moving up from below the ice.
“After thorough investigation by the persons responsible for White Turf,” the statement said, “a crack in the ice had occurred on the inner rails in the direction of the racetrack, some 150 metres from the finishing line. This meant that water had come up to undermine the racetrack.”
Thomas C Walther, the president of the St Moritz Racing Association’s management board, said that spectators had not been in any danger. Walther said: “The safety of the horses and the riders are paramount. There is no danger for spectators anywhere on the lake.”
Barry Geraghty, who is second only to Ruby Walsh among current jockeys in his career total of Cheltenham Festival winners, will miss National Hunt’s showpiece meeting next month after suffering internal injuries in a fall at Kempton Park on Saturday. Geraghty will now miss the rides on leading contenders including Unowhatimeanharry, the hot favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle, and Buveur D’Air and Defi Du Seuil, who head the markets for the Champion Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle respectively.
Geraghty, who is the retained jockey for leading owner JP McManus, was kicked in a fall from Charli Parcs in the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton Park on Saturday, and while the jockey was initially optimistic that a diagnosis of a partially-collapsed lung and cracked rib would not rule him out of Cheltenham, Geraghty told Attheraces on Sunday evening that his injuries were worse than he had first believed.
“I’ve a collapsed lung and six broken ribs on my right side,” Geraghty said. “I’m obviously devastated to miss the Festival. There were so many good horses to look forward to as JP’s team all look in particularly good shape this year.
“Last night was pretty rough. I’ve broken ribs individually before but never had six go all at the same time. I’ll be in hospital for a few more days but once the lung improves my recovery should be straightforward, and I expect to be back for Aintree.”
Other potential rides for Geraghty at next month’s meeting included More Of That, the former Stayers’ Hurdle winner, in the Gold Cup and Uxizandre, who gave Tony McCoy his final Festival winner in the 2015 Ryanair Chase and is on course to run in the race once again on 16 March.
Charli Parcs, who was uninjured in Saturday’s fall, also remains in the running to line up in either the Supreme Novice Hurdle or the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham according to Nicky Henderson, his trainer. The four-year-old, who was an odds-on chance for the Adonis Hurdle, was under strong pressure with half a mile to run but was beginning to stay on again when he fell two out.
“It didn’t look like things were going very clever, but Noel [Fehily] said first time he rode him at Kempton, he was a bit the same,” Henderson said on Sunday. “As soon as he saw daylight, off he went when he came off that bend. He picked up again having been five or six lengths down and came into the second-last like a bullet. We will talk to JP and discuss plans but it’s [Cheltenham] is still very possible.”
The Betfair exchange reported on Sunday that the former Gold Cup favourite Thistlecrack, who was ruled out of the race due to a small tear to a tendon less than a week ago, had been backed from a high of 989-1 down to just 9-1 to win the race in its ante-post market.
Colin Tizzard, Thistlecrack’s trainer, said on Sunday evening that Thistlecrack’s leg will be scanned again on Tuesday, but did not suggest there is any prospect at this stage that the chaser will make it to post for the Gold Cup after all.
“We are going to scan him again on Tuesday,” Tizzard said. “There was a little tear there, but there is no heat or swelling there now. We just want to check again, just to please ourselves really. It is not like he is walking around with his leg in a bandage.”
Today’s selections
Ayr
2.10 Trongate 2.45 Beaumont’s Pary 3.15 Billy Billy 3.45 Smuggler’s Stash 4.15 Chidswell 4.45 Strong Economy (nb) 5.15 Dunly
Plumpton
2.00 Cigarisi 2.35 Bagging Turf 3.05 Snippetydoodah 3.35 Shimba Hills 4.05 Coolking 4.35 Minella Gathering
Wolverhampton
2.20 Pour L’Amour 2.55 Cruise Tothelimit 3.25 Poetic Queen 3.55 Fast Track (nap) 4.25 The Gay Cavalier 4.55 Atkinson Grimshaw 5.25 Gnaad