Tag Archive for: Duran Fentiman

Fentiman suffers double leg break in Pontefract fall

Duran Fentiman is set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a double leg break at Pontefract on Thursday.

Fentiman was set to partner Tim Easterby’s two-year-old Cangofar in a novice contest but he parted company after the horse jinked on the way to the start.

The rider, who has ridden 21 winners this term, was taken to hospital in Leeds where he is set to undergo surgery on Friday having broken both his tibia and fibula.

“He has suffered a lower leg break and has broke his tibia and fibula in two places,” said Fentiman’s agent Paul Brierley, who plans to visit the jockey on Friday evening.

Jockey Duran Fentiman was enjoying a fine season
Jockey Duran Fentiman was enjoying a fine season (Mike Egerton/PA)

“I spoke to Duran last night and this morning and he is scheduled to go down for an operation. When I spoke to him this morning he was next in line and it is just a case of getting the operation done.

“In himself he’s a bit tired because he wouldn’t have had much sleep. It’s obviously very painful, but at the same time he is obviously disappointed because he is having such a good year as well. It’s typical horseracing where you can have the rug pulled from under your feet at any time.”

There was a lengthy delay to racing as Fentiman was first made stable on course before being transferred to hospital, with the remaining races on the card subsequently abandoned due to the lack of an available replacement ambulance.

Thoughts now turn to Fentiman’s recovery, with the jockey, who recently partnered his 400th career winner, thankful for all the messages he has received following Thursday’s incident.

“Duran is all right in terms of chatting away, but yesterday quite a lot of the delay was due to getting Duran comfortable and stable because the break was obviously not a straight forward one,” continued Brierley.

“The horse just jinked and it was a fairly big two-year-old as well, so it was a fair way down. Ninety-nine times out of 100 you’d land on your feet or roll around, but he’s just landed and the leg has broke. We’ll just have to see, but I would assume that is 2024 finished.

“The main thing is he’s in the right place and it’s amazing what they can do with sports injuries these days.

“I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of messages and I would like to pass on that Duran appreciates all the messages and well-wishes he’s received.”



Try Tix for Better Tote Returns

Pontefract abandoned after Fentiman fall

Pontefract’s Thursday afternoon card was abandoned after three races following an injury to jockey Duran Fentiman that left the track without enough ambulances to continue racing.

Fentiman fell from Tim Easterby’s Cangofar on the way to the start for the FBS Chartered Accountants Restricted Novice Stakes and sustained a suspected broken leg, causing a lengthy delay as he was treated in the ambulance and then taken to hospital.

The other horses set to run in the contest were held at the start for some time and it was eventually decided on veterinary advice that they should not compete after a long wait in the wet and cold conditions.

The incident coincided with a car accident on the road outside the track and after attempting to replace the absent ambulance in order to run the remainder of the card, it became apparent to officials at the course that they would not be able to do so in a suitable timeframe.

“Duran was unshipped on the way to the start and when the medical team got to him he obviously had quite a bad injury, they took quite a long time to assess everything, stabilise him and get him in the ambulance,” Norman Gundill, managing director of the track, told Racing TV.

“The ambulance has taken him the St James’s (hospital) in Leeds. There’s a further complication in that there’s been an accident on the road outside.

“All of the horses were kept at the start – it’s a miserable, cold, wet day. The stewards and officials were in communication with the vets at the start as to whether they were happy for the horses to run having been there for so long.

“There was an announcement saying that if any of the trainers wanted to withdraw their horses, they could do so.

“Under the rules, if an incident happens where one of the ambulances has to leave, then we can run one race but we can’t then carry on unless we get a replacement ambulance back.

“We were in a position to run one race, in the end what happened was that the vets decided the horses had been there for so long and as it was cold, it was not in their best interests to run.

“So far as the rest of the card is concerned, we made some enquiries to see if we could get a replacement ambulance, bearing in mind the timescale and when darkness will fall, the decision was taken that we couldn’t get one here, so we couldn’t carry on racing.

“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to run the race we should have been able to run, and we couldn’t run the rest of the card.”



Try Tix for Better Tote Returns