Live

Highlights on Off The Ball

02:00 PM-06:00 PM

Highlights on Off The Ball
Advertisement
Racing

Watch | Friday Night Racing | Fran Berry

Fran Berry was the special guest for this week's Friday Night Racing on Off the Ball. The four-ti...



Watch | Friday Night Racing |...
Racing

Watch | Friday Night Racing | Fran Berry

Fran Berry was the special guest for this week's Friday Night Racing on Off the Ball.

The four-time winner at Royal Ascot joined is currently out injured with fractures in his vertebrae and rib damage after a fall in Wolverhampton at the end of January.

Originally from Kilcullen, Co Kildare, Fran made his name as a jump jockey, winning the 1999 Coral Cup at the Cheltenham Festival on Khayrawani but is probably best known as a hugely respected Flat jockey.

Berry won his first race on a Bank Holiday Monday in Navan - only to return to school the next day to study for his Junior Cert.

In 2016, Fran and his family made the move across to Britain and he is still based there.

Asked about some of the injuries he has suffered when falling as a flat racer, he explained how hard falling on an all-weather surface can be, telling Johnny: "It's like hitting a concrete road. I had a fall in Dundalk seven or eight years ago and I went for an X-ray the next day and the radiographer said: 'Were you in a car crash?' because I was so bruised and black and blue.

"I remember Adrian McGoldrick saying 'one in three flat falls is a fracture whereas one in twelve or twenty jump falls is a fracture. And, unfortunately with flat falls - it tends to be spinal type injuries."

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Flat Racing Fran Berry Horse Racing Jump Racing