'I broke into tears' - Thomas Willmott retires from the saddle aged 24 due to fears of losing the use of his right arm

The possibility of losing the functionality of his right arm should he sustain another fall has prompted conditional jockey Thomas Willmott to retire from the saddle at the age of just 24.

Willmott rode his 48th and final winner on Prairie Wolf for boss Sue Smith at Catterick on February 3 last year before breaking his arm and foot when being unseated from the winner’s stablemate North Parade on his very next ride.

Willmott was kicked by North Parade after being unshipped from his mount at the third-last fence of the 1m7½f handicap chase and despite undergoing extensive rehabilitation at the Injured Jockeys Fund's Jack Berry House in Malton, he will not ride in another race on medical grounds.

"I had the fall on my birthday so it was a bit of a day to remember, not that I can remember much,” said Willmott when recalling the events of the fall on Tuesday.

"I broke the humerus between the shoulder and the elbow on my right arm. Basically the bone was nearly through the skin and, as bad as it sounds, the arm was pretty much hanging off from the top. My girlfriend Amy was there at the races that day and she had more of a traumatic time than me.

"Trying to get a surgeon to do the surgery was really difficult because they had to move the nerve in the arm to be able to plate the bone back together and it was obviously really risky. That took a lot of time but I always thought, however long it took, that I’d be back.

"I probably didn’t give respect to the nerve damage that was in the arm and the complications that it would have further on down the line."

Willmott added: "I actually broke my left foot in about four places as well at the same time. They were all stable fractures, it was bad but considering the shape that my arm was in, I didn’t really notice my foot being broken.

"What I didn’t realise was that I wouldn’t be able to use crutches because I’d done my left leg and my right arm. I was completely dependent on a wheelchair for about three months and completely dependent on Amy and my family.

Willmott riding out his 7lb claim aboard Katalystic at PerthCredit: Grossick Photography

"For about a week once I came home from hospital I couldn’t get out of bed without any help, I couldn’t get dressed, have a wash. There’s been a lot of hard days where it has been emotional. It was bad but it could have been a lot worse. Look at poor Graham Lee, that’s what I keep thinking about."

Willmott attended Jack Berry House weekly from May to December to intensify his rehabilitation but after consultation with his surgeon and the British Horseracing Authority’s chief medical adviser Jerry Hill, he took the difficult decision to stop race riding.

"I haven’t sat on a horse since I had the fall," said Willmott. "My arm is actually very strong. It’s more the nerve damage in my arm and sometimes I get some pain in my elbow. The concern is if a horse is to try and run off with me and I was trying to stop it, that the nerve might catch and I might not be able to stop it.

"I’m very fit to ride but the arm isn’t fit to fall. That was the big turning point in deciding to retire because if the arm got another fall and I had another heavy impact then I could lose the use of it completely. That hit home when the surgeon told me that."

Willmott had his first point-to-point ride in 2016 before scoring under rules for the first time a year later at Ayr on Rivabodiva for Lucinda Russell. Willmott rode out his 7lb claim on the Russell-trained Katalystic at Perth in September 2019 before moving to West Yorkshire to join the fellow Grand National-winning yard of Sue and Harvey Smith. 

"I wouldn’t have got started without Lucinda and Scu," said Willmott. "I had some great days there and then obviously I made the move down to Sue and Harvey’s and then it kind of took off again. I was at a stage where I could be trusted to ride bigger and better horses.

Willmott celebrates as he wins on Romeo Brown for the fourth time at AintreeCredit: Grossick Racing

"The likes of Romeo Brown really put me on the map and won some bigger Saturday races.

"I was probably riding as well when I got the fall as what I’d ever done and I was kind of hoping that I was maybe going to be stable jockey for Sue and Harvey at some point as well.

“When I told Sue and Harvey that I was going to have to retire a few weeks ago, I broke into tears. I didn’t think it’d hit me as hard as what it has."

Willmott received a BHA development award at the Jockeys Education & Training Scheme Richard Davis awards in recognition of his efforts to work towards a second career as a funeral director in 2022 but hopes to remain in racing in some capacity.

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