Hollie Doyle: Record-breaking jockey says elbow injury 'worse than we thought to begin with'
- Published
Hollie Doyle became the first female jockey to win a French Classic race with victory on Nashwa in the French Oaks at Chantilly in June 2022
Jockey Hollie Doyle says a broken leg would have been easier to deal with than the elbow injury that has stopped her racing for more than two months.
Doyle, 26, fractured and dislocated her elbow and ruptured two ligaments in a heavy fall at Wolverhampton in January.
She is targeting a return in early April in time for the official start of the flat racing season.
"This is the longest I've ever been out of the saddle," Doyle told BBC Hereford & Worcester.
"It was a bit worse than we thought to begin with - I ended up having to have an operation and [damaged] ligaments aren't ideal, I think I'd rather have broken my leg."
By contrast, Doyle's husband and fellow jockey Tom Marquand suffered a head injury and dislocated collarbone last month - but is closer to a return than his wife despite undergoing shoulder surgery.
"He's actually going out to Australia this weekend so he'll be back before me," Doyle added.
'Things could have been a lot worse'
Berkshire-based Doyle's fall occurred at an all-weather meeting when her mount Perfect Crown broke down on the home bend and suffered a fatal injury.
"Things could have been a lot worse really - thankfully I walked away," admitted Doyle, who finished third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year voting in 2020.
"My fall was just a bit of a freak accident and couldn't have been avoided but those are the risks of the job unfortunately."
Doyle rode 172 winners in 2021 to beat her own previous record for most wins in a calendar year by a female jockey, having claimed 151 victories the year before.
But after a long spell of treatment at Oaksey House, a rehabilitation centre funded by the Injured Jockeys Fund, she is just happy to be close to riding again.
"Now I'm in the process of strengthening and getting the reins back in my arm and hopefully I will be back in the next few weeks if all goes to plan," added Doyle, from Ivington, in Herefordshire.
"You kick off [the season] with the Lincoln meeting on 1 April and then there are a few important meetings, like the Craven and the Guineas trials in April, so I'm hoping I can be back for those.
"But with the injury it is quite crucial that I get it right because I don't want to get knocked back a few pegs if something goes wrong."
Hollie Doyle was talking to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Trevor Owens