Wife in hospital bedside vigil after popular Hong Kong rider suffers serious neck injury in Sha Tin fall

Jockey David Harrison was last night in a stable condition following his fall at Sha Tin on Wednesday night. The 28-year-old rider is in the intensive care unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital, where he has been undergoing tests on a serious neck injury sustained in the fall from the Bruce Hutchison-trained My Chief. There were fears that he would be paralysed from the fall, but he is understood to have some movement in his fingers and toes, and doctors reported his condition had improved.

Harrison's wife Abby issued a statement through the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which read: 'David has been conscious since his fall and has been speaking with me throughout the day. [He] will undergo further tests for his neck injury this afternoon. I will try to update the media on David's situation soon. In the meantime, I have to thank all those who have given support to David and myself during this difficult time.'

Harrison was thrown to the ground from My Chief shortly after the start of the 1,200-metre race. He lay motionless for several minutes as he was attended by the on-course ambulance team before being taken to the nearby hospital. Although Harrison was fitted with a neck brace at the racecourse, this was seen initially as only a precautionary measure, but the jockey's condition is understood to have deteriorated on arrival at the hospital before improving steadily yesterday.

Harrison's wife maintained a vigil at the hospital along with trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam and his wife Jane, who are close friends. Other well-wishers who visited the hospital included Hutchison's wife Lana, Irish jockey John Egan and Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Jockey Club's director of racing.

A stewards' inquiry into the fall was adjourned on Wednesday night, but Hutchison yesterday said he believed My Chief, who was among the backmarkers as the 14 runners settled down after leaving the barriers, clipped the heels of the preceding Romantic Symphony after possibly being struck by another runner.

'It's a terrible and tragic thing. My Chief came back with a cut on the offside coronet band, which suggests he was hit on that side and perhaps that's what led to the fall. The horse just ducked his head and unseated David, and then kept on galloping,' said Hutchison.

Anton Marcus, who rode Romantic Symphony for Tony Millard, said he was unaware of the fall. 'David's horse was behind me, and if he clipped my heels I certainly didn't feel anything. I was drawn on his inside, and I was entitled to be where I was, but I don't really know too much about what happened because I haven't even seen a replay of the race.'