Hero jockey who saved glamorous rival from disaster is slammed by stewards for ruining his chance to win | The Sun

January 9, 2023

A HERO jockey who saved a female rider from mid-race disaster was slammed by stewards for ruining his chance to win.

Georgina Cartwright was almost catapulted to the turf when her horse Michigan clipped heels with another just half a furlong into a sprint contest.

Regaining balance but with her feet hopelessly out of position after slipping out of their stirrups, one wrong move when travelling at 40mph could have resulted in serious injury for the 29-year-old.

Fortunately, Cartwright's rival Kyle Wilson-Taylor was travelling behind when he noticed the dire situation she was in.

The jockey moved his 40-1 outsider Cracking Thunder up alongside Michigan and handed Cartwright her iron to get her foot back in.

With crisis averted, they both finished the race safely, albeit with no chance of victory.

In truth that didn't matter so long as both jockeys were unharmed.

The stewards took a different view however, and bizarrely hammered Wilson-Taylor – who was homeless just a few years ago – for sacrificing his chance to win to help out a rival.

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Their report from the race at Sunshine Coast racecourse in Australia read: "Kyle Wilson-Taylor, the rider of Cracking Thunder, explained that he had directed his mount out toward Michigan in an attempt to help jockey Georgina Cartwright to regain the use of her offside iron, which was caught behind her saddle.

"He was successful in doing so, as jockey Cartwright was able to regain her iron shortly afterwards.

"Wilson-Taylor was none the less admonished for his actions as his actions had a clear effect on his mount's competitive chances.

"They also had the potential to further endanger himself, his mount and jockey Cartwright and her mount."

Brave Wilson-Taylor confirmed he got a ticking off – but said he would have done it all over again.

He said: "Watching Georgina up in front of me, she was in all sorts of trouble.

"As we were approaching probably the 500m mark, I knew I was going to improve past her and I thought I may as well try and help her on the way past if I could.

"As I was getting close to her, I could see that the iron kept flicking back and catching on her saddle, and that was why she couldn’t grab it.

"I just grabbed it and held it still for a moment so she could grab it and we just carried on from there.

"I was on a 40-1 chance but it really didn’t matter what horse I was on.

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"Rider safety is more important than any race and that was what I was trying to help ensure.

"I did get reprimanded for my actions – but what happens if I just left her and she fell off and got seriously injured?"

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