Fall jockey critical after brain surgery
CRITICALLY injured apprentice jockey Philip C. T. Cheng was fighting for his life in the Prince Of Wales Hospital last night after a three-hour operation for brain damage.
Cheng, 20, attached to the stable of former champion trainer John Moore, was taken to hospital unconscious after a dreadful fall from his mount, For My Wishes, in the fourth race at Sha Tin racetrack.
Cheng, who finished second in the apprentice jockeys' championship last season with 16 winners, was immediately given a brain scan and rushed to the operating theatre.
Jockey Club chief executive, Lawrence Wong Chi-kwong, said: 'The operation was expected to last at least two hours but it was more like three. There is no doubting the seriousness of the position.'
Cheng's father was at his bedside, while his mother, who is in Canada, was being kept informed of her son's condition.
Stewards opened a preliminary inquiry into the cause of the fall, which brought gasps from the crowd of 21,000.
Jockey Club director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said it was felt necessary to hold an inquiry while the incident was still fresh in the minds of those involved.
The carefully worded report suggested that tight racing had caused For My Wishes, which was awkwardly placed, to clip the heels of the horse in front before stumbling to the ground.
Jockeys involved said there were no appeals for room from Cheng before the fall.
