'If you don't laugh, you'll cry!' - Joanna Mason set for spell on sidelines after pigeons lead to freak gallops accident

Joanna Mason is facing another frustrating spell on the sidelines after she suffered a leg injury on Monday in a freak gallops incident involving pigeons.

Mason was riding out at her grandfather Mick and David Easterby's yard in the morning when three pigeons rushed out of the bushes near the gallop, startling a filly she was riding causing her to be unseated.

After going to Jack Berry House, Mason went to Malton Hospital for an x-ray where it was confirmed she had suffered a fracture at the bottom of her left leg, just above her ankle.

"I was just riding a filly and getting her cantering on the gallops when three pigeons flew out of the bushes. The other two lads behind me stayed on their horses, but my filly darted and I went out to the right and landed on my ankle funny," she said.

"Usually I'd get up grand. I walked down the gallop, grandad picked me up and we went and iced my ankle in the office. They then looked at it at Jack Berry House and said I should go for an x-ray at Malton just to make sure. 

"I wasn't in any pain, but there was a lot of swelling to my ankle and the nurse came back in and said I did a good job of it. I've done a spiral fracture to my distal fibula. It's stable and at the moment no operation is required, which is a bit of a positive, but I'll be heading back to Jack Berry house to ice it and do stuff there."

Joanna Mason: jockey rode a winner at the lucrative Saudi Cup meeting earlier this yearCredit: Edward Whitaker

Mason is expected to be out for six weeks and had already been off for ten days at the start of last month. She was kicked in the knee when unsaddling the Easterby-trained Jazz Samba following his win at Beverley on May 1.

She also missed out on a winner when Menelaus – one of rides she was booked for at Thirsk on Monday – landed the 1m4f handicap.

"I'm more frustrated than anything as I was just getting going after being kicked at Beverley," she added. "I had a brilliant weekend with three winners – one Arab and two thoroughbreds – and had two really good chances at Thirsk, with one winning.

"But what can you do? The race is on to come back stronger and if you don't laugh, you'll cry!"

Mason has ridden 17 winners in Britain so far this year, while she notably finished third in the International Jockeys Challenge at the Saudi Cup meeting in February and was victorious on that card.

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