Rallying round for stricken jockey Tylicki

Every jockey victorious at the Flat’s sombre season-ending meeting on Town Moor spoke eloquently about Tylicki’s special gifts while an emotional Frankie Dettori said: “Can I take one minute to say we’re thinking of you, Freddy. We’re praying for you, pal, ” after winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Queen’s Trust.

It also put into perspective the last-place finish of North Yorkshire trainer David O’Meara’s Mondialiste in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, a race won by Aidan O’Brien’s Highland Reel.

Just hours before Monday’s life-changing fall at Kempton, Tylicki had been to the American Embassy to collect his work visa so he could race for the first time at the prestigious Breeders’ Cup meeting. No wonder Dettori’s victory, one of the finest of his career, was the most bitter-sweet.

For each and every rider, Flat or National Hunt, the weekend’s results were of secondary importance to the desperate plight of their universally-liked colleague, and a painful reminder of racing’s inherent risks, while a fund-raising appeal set up by the TV presenter Matt Chapman generated more than £150,000 in 36 hours.

After former Grand National-winning rider Graham Lee won Doncaster’s Wentworth Stakes on the top sprinter Growl for Richard Fahey, the trainer instrumental to Tylicki early’s success, he spoke movingly on behalf of the whole weighing room about how the whole sport had been traumatised by the accident.

It was even more poignant when apprentice George Wood, one of the finds of the season, won the feature November handicap on Godolphin’s Prize Money. He regularly rode out alongside Tylicki at the yard of Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe and said: “I’d like to say a huge thank-you to Freddy Tylicki. He’s helped me out a huge amount.”

Born in Germany and raised in Ireland before moving to North Yorkshire in 2008, Tylicki made an instant impression when winning that year’s John Smith’s Cup at York on the Fahey-trained Flying Clarets. He became champion apprentice the next year before a serious shoulder injury stopped his career just as it was taking off.

His victory on retired Wetherby trainer Robin Bastiman’s popular Bordlescott in the 2012 Beverley Bullet preceded a move to Newmarket where his career reached new heights, notably his dual Group One successes this season on the Fanshawe-trained Speedy Boarding, which were the rider’s first at the highest level.

Yet it was not just his horsemanship that set him apart. It was his engaging personality and an uncanny ability to take life’s disappointments in his stride, notably when he came within a whisker of winning the German Derby that his late father had previously won.

Fanshawe was among the first to offer support when the grim prognosis was confirmed late on Friday night.

“He had just started to get a name for himself as a big-race jockey,” he said.

“He has really battled back from being champion apprentice and having an injury after that. He has always been very hungry and everything had really started to fall into place. Freddy has a tremendous character and this will help him with the battle ahead. We will endeavour to do whatever we can to help him, his sister Madeleine and his mum Irene.”

Boroughbridge rider Paul Mulrennan was close to tears at Doncaster, overwhelmed by his friend’s injuries and the generosity of the racing public. “His career was really on the up, he’d made a big breakthrough this season – it’s just so sad,” he said.

“He’s a real live-wire, always cracking jokes, such a positive person. If anyone can get through something like this, he has the attitude to do it. The weighing room is not a great place to be today, we’re not sure what to say.”

Former trainer Jack Berry, vice-president of the Injured Jockeys Fund, said: “It’s desperate news. He’s a cracking kid, always very cheerful, and he’d made a huge breakthrough this year.

“The one small consolation is that he’ll be very well looked after by the IJF.”