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Former champion jockey Jim Crowley is facing yet more weeks on the sidelines six months after suffering serious injuries in a horror fall at York.

The 47-year-old broke his leg and pelvis and also suffered internal bleeding in a fall in September when his mount Almeraq appeared to clip the heels of a rival and came down about two furlongs from the finish to the Garrowby Stakes. Almeraq then brought down Tiger Bay, whose jockey Trevor Whelan was also hospitalised having broken his ankle in three places. He too has yet to return to action. Both horses got up and walked away.

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Crowley, crowned champion in 2016, had his leg pinned and pelvis plated while he was in hospital in Leeds but has since had to undergo further surgery.

Speaking to Sky Sports Racing, Crowley said: "I'll make a full recovery but it wasn't healing as well as I would've liked and I had a bit of problem with a tendon in my leg so that needed readdressing, which I did on the Wednesday of Cheltenham.

"I'm on crutches rehabbing and I can weight-bear. It's probably knocked me back a month but there's not a lot I could have done about it because it needed doing.

"I don't have a date for being back but I'm doing everything I can to get back as soon as I can. I'd like to be back by the end of May, that's what I'm aiming for, but whether I'll get there, I don't know."

An update on Whelan’s progress issued by the Injured Jockeys’ Fund in February said: “Trevor sustained multiple fractures to his right ankle following a high speed fall at York racecourse in September 2025. This was a complex injury and following initial local treatment, he was transferred to a specialist centre in London where a team of surgeons undertook an ankle reconstruction.

“The bony healing progressed well but, not unusually, he required a further operation to address extensive scarring around the joint.

“He has worked very hard with the IJF physios to regain the movement needed for race riding but this is still some time off. It is therefore highly likely he will need further surgery during 2026 which will significantly delay any return to riding."