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Fanning avoids serious injury following Wolverhampton spill

3 minute read

Joe Fanning will be set for a short spell on the sidelines after being knocked out following a fall at Wolverhampton yesterday evening, which saw dual champion jockey Oisin Murphy pick up nine days for careless riding.

Joe Fanning riding Austrian Theory wins The Racehorse Lotto Handicap at Epsom Racecourse in Epsom, England.
Joe Fanning riding Austrian Theory wins The Racehorse Lotto Handicap at Epsom Racecourse in Epsom, England. Picture: Getty Images

Joe Fanning was dislodged from the Charlie Johnston-trained Sennockian just moments after passing in the winning post in the feature one mile half a furlong handicap at Wolverhampton last night, with the fall resulting in Fanning losing consciousness as he was stretched off the track.

The 53-year-old regained consciousness prior to leaving Dunstall Park and was taken to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton for precautionary tests before returning home much later that evening.

Niall Hannity, Fanning's agent, said: "Joe is fine. He had precautionary scans on his head and everything at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton and they came back clear."

"He got home late last night, and I spoke to him this morning and he is fine.

"I'm not sure how long he'll be out for. He'll have to pass a baseline concussion test and it will be up to Dr Jerry Hill when he'll be able to take that.

"We'll see how he is in the next day or two, but he obviously won't be riding this weekend or next week, I wouldn't have thought."

Following a steward's enquiry, Fanning was found to have not committed any riding offences and that the placings should remain unaltered, while Oisin Murphy was found guilty of careless riding and suspended for nine days.

The stewards' report read: "Murphy was suspended for nine days as he allowed his mount to drift approximately two horse widths right-handed away from the whip causing interference to Sennockian before then using the whip again in the left hand whereupon his mount shifted further right-handed causing interference to Sennockian, with Fanning being unseated after the line."

Murphy will be suspended on March 11 and 12 and from March 18 to 24, a ban that will see him miss the first weekend of the British Flat turf season at Doncaster.


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