Cape lightweight jockey Devin Ashby was discharged from Vincent Pallotti hospital on Monday after an awkward fall in the canter down to the start of the fourth race at Kenilworth on Saturday left him with a fractured ankle.
Devin Ashby – rotten luck
The 32 year old Ashby had replaced the indisposed Chris Puller on Olimpic Airways and was cantering quietly to the start, when disaster struck.
“My mount did not want to parade, so the Groom leading us let him go and I was cruising down to the start when something must have spooked him. He went left and I kept going straight. I somehow landed on my feet but very awkwardly and felt an excruciating pain,” he said.
Ashby was rushed to hospital where x-rays later revealed that he had fractured bones on the outside of his ankle and the pins inserted on the inside of the same ankle had also bent – and damaged a recent injury.
It was only in September last year that Ashby had been admitted to Milnerton Medi – Clinic after an horrific accident while sprinting up a Eric Sands horse at the Milnerton training centre.
The horse flipped over backwards and fell on top of him, badly damaging his ankle and which led to pins being inserted.
He had returned to race riding just over a fortnight ago and with new opportunities in PE and localy, he was looking forward to bouncing back quickly.
“I am naturally devastated by this setback and all indications are that I will be out for even longer than my recent stint. Things happen so quickly and it just goes to show how dangerous this game is. The canter speed of a horse is quite deceptive on television – imagine pushing somebody suddenly off a bakkie that’s moving at say 30km/hour,” he said.
Devin is the son-in-law of Milnerton trainer Paul Reeves and said that he would pass his recovery days at the stable with his wife Stacey, who works for her Dad.
He expects to see an ankle specialist next week and said that early indications are that he may have a plate fitted in the ankle.
Ashby joins a growing list of injured jockeys, which includes Jarred Samuel, Charles Ndhlovu, Greg Cheyne and Donavan Mansour.
