Horse dies and jockey hospitalised after suffering heavy fall at UK track | Racing | Sport

Top jockey Hollie Doyle faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering an injury while riding at Bath on Friday that led to the death of her horse. The 29-year-old, Britain’s most successful female jockey, had ridden 10 winners in the previous fortnight to advance to fifth place in the jockeys’ championship at this early stage of the season.

She claimed her most recent victory at Bath on Friday evening, triumphing aboard the Archie Watson-trained Flight Signal. However, in the subsequent race she was unseated after the Kevin Frost-trained Vault Of Heaven encountered trouble having covered two furlongs of the sprint handicap, with Doyle parting company with the horse as she pulled up the fatally injured animal. Doyle was subsequently taken to hospital.

She had a full schedule of rides at Salisbury on Saturday evening, but announced on Saturday that she would be sidelined for some time. Her mount in the feature British Stallion Studs EBF Cathedral Stakes, Zoum Zoum, has been handed to Daniel Muscutt.

In an Instagram post she wrote: “Thank you for all the messages, unfortunately I will be on the sidelines for a while after sustaining an injury at Bath yesterday. Thoughts are with connections. I’ll be back!”

Doyle has accumulated 1,135 British winners throughout her career, including ten at Group 1 level. She had been on course to ride a century of winners for the seventh consecutive year in 2025 but fell two short of the target after accepting a short-term contract to ride in Hong Kong.

She is well over halfway to the milestone, having already racked up 53 victories in 2026, while husband Tom Marquand has notched up 26 of his own.

“Thankfully it’s a leg and nothing more serious. I think she is due to have an operation at some point today. Hopefully she can sort it out in one and concentrate on getting back as fast as possible.”