Jockey Harry Bentley targets September return after serious fall

Nursing a slew of injuries from a nasty fall at Sha Tin last Saturday, Harry Bentley has been quick to start rehabilitation with a goal of returning to riding at the start of next season in September.

The British jockey suffered a fractured forearm, fractured shoulder blade and five broken ribs after falling from Smiling Falcon when the galloper injured his left front leg and fell early in race six.

Bentley was taken to Union Hospital and underwent surgery on Sunday to insert a plate into his left forearm.

“I had my first day of physio the day after surgery on my arm, so I’ve started the process of getting things back on track,” Bentley said.

“It was obviously one of those things you never hope you’re involved in, but we know the dangers of the job and these things happen, so you’ve just got to dust yourself off and get back in the plate really.

“I’m very dedicated to rehab and getting back as soon as possible. Being still fairly young and fit, I would expect to be recovering pretty quickly and I’ve certainly got the target of coming back for the beginning of next season. It’s a good target to have and I’m going to be working hard to be as fit as possible for that.”

Bentley revealed Smiling Falcon rolled on top of him momentarily after crashing to the turf, but the 26-year-old was able to get himself out of danger.

Rather than dwell on the frightening incident, Bentley is thankful his injuries weren’t more severe.

“I’d say my forearm and my shoulder took the brunt of the impact and then I had a horse go over the top of me. Smiling Falcon actually ended up rolling on top of me, so I was underneath him for a moment,” Bentley said.

“I was able to just pull myself from underneath him and get to the side and that was the end of that really. To take out some positives, it could have been far worse and hopefully it’s not going to keep me out of action for too long.”

The injuries cut short what could have been a career-best season in Hong Kong for Bentley, who sits seventh in the jockeys’ championship on 34 wins.

While his personal best is 39 wins in 2023-24, Bentley achieved two highlight triumphs of his Hong Kong career this term, claiming the Group Two Premier Bowl (1,200m) on Tomodachi Kokoroe and Classic Cup (1,800m) on Stormy Grove.

“There could have been a worse time of the season, but it would have been lovely to get to 40 winners, but it is what it is,” Bentley said.

“I was really pleased with how things had gone – the quality of races I won was certainly an improvement on previous seasons. Hopefully I can take that into next season as well.”

Bentley has been replaced by Vincent Ho Chak-yiu on Tomodachi Kokoroe in the Group Three Premier Cup (1,400m) and Ethan Brown on Chancheng Glory in the Group Three Premier Plate (1,800m) in Sunday’s Sha Tin features.