Jockey Jamie Moore says he had no option but to retire after doctors told him his MRI scan results looked like those of a “car crash victim”.
The 39-year-old retired in mid-February on medical grounds following a fall at Lingfield in November 2023 that left Moore with a fractured vertebra.
The seven-time Grade One winner had initially hoped to return to racing but was advised not to do so.
“It is a risky sport and I was lucky, I got 22 years out of it,” said Moore.
“I had CT scans and they were actually OK,” he told BBC Sport’s Laura Scott.
He was then advised to have an MRI scan on his brain.
“There was just a scattering of brain bleeds in there from the falls,” he said.
“We couldn’t tell if it was this fall in November, or it could have been a fall previous to that, it could have been from years of being a jump jockey, years of falls.
“But I’m actually quite glad we’ve done that because I think it will help the whole sport with concussion, more lads will probably get more MRI brain scans.
“The way the doctor said it to me was ‘I see a lot of footballers, rugby players and boxers and your brain, it doesn’t look like any of theirs’. And I was thinking ‘This is quite good’. Then he said ‘It looks like a car crash victim’.
“And then that hits you, you think ‘I definitely won’t be race riding any more’. It was hard to take in but at the same time I am lucky.
“There are a lot of jockeys who haven’t been able to walk away and I have been able to walk away. So I am very lucky in that respect.”
Moore started his career at the age of 17 and rode 968 winners during his 22 years on the saddle.
His most famous victory came in 2014, when he rode Sire De Grugy to victory at the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
November’s fall at Lingfield not only left Moore with a significant concussion and broken teeth, but a fractured spine as well.
Though protocols improved over the course of Moore’s career, his retirement has raised awareness about the impact of falls in racing.
“Definitely [there’s been improvements]. I started riding in 2001 and compared to what it is now, it is a big thing now,” said Moore.
“You hear of young kids stopping heading the football, and rugby as well, because of early dementia and Alzheimer’s, but racing certainly and sports do seem to be doing as much as they possibly can.
“You try restricting a sportsman to stop doing something and it’s not easy for doctors to do that, they stopped me though but I am near the end of my career anyway.”
While Moore says he displays little effect of his fall, he says he has noticed slight changes.
“The only thing is if I’m playing football with my little boy, turning around quickly I get a little bit dizzy,” he said.
“I took him on some flumes at an indoor water park a couple of weeks ago and I got off one and thought ‘I can’t be doing that’, so I notice that difference, I feel a bit sick.”
