Vincent Ho is in intensive care at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong after he suffered head, neck and shoulder injuries in a horror fall at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Ho was riding Oldtown in the sixth race on the card when his mount clipped heels with another runner inside the final 100m and sent the jockey crashing into the Sha Tin turf.
It was the rider’s fourth serious fall involving his back, neck or head in under two years.
In an update late on Monday afternoon, Hong Kong Jockey Club chief steward Marc van Gestel confirmed Ho suffered “a head injury and minor fractures to his shoulder and neck” which are “expected to heal with conservative management”.
He added that Ho “is expected to be discharged from the ICU to the general ward within the next 24 hours.”
After fracturing his T5 vertebra in Japan in 2023, Ho was on the end of another nasty fall that left him with neck pain and a broken finger in January last year. He hit the turf again in December and faced a period on the sidelines due to concussion.
The 34-year-old was the first to find himself on the canvas on a day of carnage at Sha Tin, with Zac Purton, Angus Chung and Keith Yeung also suffering various injuries after a fall three races later.
Purton confirmed he would require a period of rehabilitation after he fractured his left big toe, ruling him out of Ka Ying Rising’s search for a third consecutive Group 1 win in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.
“I’ve got a fracture in my heel which is not much of a problem, a little bit of ligament damage in my ankle and my big toe is broken,” he said. “It’s pointing at a bit of an angle so it needs to be realigned and pinned to hold it in place.
“I’ve got surgery today at 2pm (Monday) and those pins need to stay in for four weeks unfortunately before they can be taken out. They want me to stay in (the hospital) again tonight and then I’ll be out of here tomorrow.”
Mauritian jockey Karis Teetan will replace Purton on Ka Ying Rising while trainer Pierre Ng confirmed he is searching for a new rider for Galaxy Patch in the G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m) on February 23.
Sunday’s nasty pile up occurred when Chung’s mount, Legend St Paul’s, broke down in the home straight and fell into the path of Purton and Yeung, who were aboard Silvery Breeze and Lupo Solitario, respectively.
While Purton initially thought he might come away unscathed after hitting the ground, the rider said he was caught by the oncoming Star Contact in the aftermath.
“When I first hit the ground I felt like I was OK, but it was when Karis (Teetan) rode over me on Star Contact and his horse’s legs did all the damage. But there was nothing Karis could have done,” he said.
“It could have been worse, but at the same time it’s really disappointing to be missing out for the next few weeks.”
It was a similar story for 28-year-old Chung, who was counting his blessings that he escaped the incident with some bruising to his face and a fractured right cheekbone.
“When I hit the floor, I thought I was OK, but Star Contact kicked my face unfortunately,” he said. “It’s nothing serious though so I’m just feeling very lucky. I’m a little bit bruised and I’ve fractured my cheekbone but I’ll be out of the hospital today.”
Yeung was the first to his feet after the incident and has sustained “contusion injuries over his left shoulder muscles, thigh muscles and left buttock muscles”.
Regarding their returns to the track, Van Gestel said Purton and Chung may be able to resume riding in four to six weeks, while Yeung is expected to fully recover within two to three weeks. ∎
