Meet the one-handed jockey determined to make it in the saddle

Harry Enright was born with one hand but that is not stopping the 17-year-old from pursuing his dream of one day becoming a jockey.

The teenager, from Lewisham, south London, recently graduated with flying colours from the British Racing School (BRS) in Newmarket.

Enright, who rides with a prosthetic arm linked to the reins through a magnetic device, completed an 18-week foundation course and is now riding work at Lawney Hill's yard in Oxfordshire.

Enright, who has no left hand, has always had a love of horses and riding, and his Instagram account carries the motivational message "breaking barriers single handed".

He said: "When I was younger, I was quite into football and it got to the point where I thought I could either continue playing that, work in an office or try and make something of myself.

Harry Enright: 'The biggest goal for me is probably trying to be a jockey'

"I've always loved horses and decided I wanted to take that further and get into racing. Together with the BRS and Steve Cox and the team at Dorset Orthopaedic, we have created a prosthetic which allows me to safely ride racehorses.

"Everyone has their bigger goal of where they want to be. The biggest goal for me is probably trying to be a jockey. For now, I'm just taking it step by step.

"My next goal was to get into the workplace and I've achieved that and now it's just continuing to move forwards towards my dreams."

Andrew Brathwaite, finance director at the BRS, helped develop the bespoke arm which is battery powered and has to be charged overnight.

He said: "The key was to find a solution that didn't require the horses to adapt to the way Harry was riding. The prosthetic is made of silicon which slides on to his arm and there is a magnet at the end which attaches to the reins. A power circuit keeps it in place and if he falls off the circuit is broken, releasing the magnet so that he doesn't get caught up in the reins."

Having first sat on a donkey at eight months old on holiday in Ireland, Enright's parents turned to the BRS when he decided he wanted to pursue a career in racing.

Michelle Enright, Harry's mother, said of her son's progress: "We are extremely proud of Harry. Behind all of this for him is to inspire others like him to never give up on your dreams, to really put yourself out there and keep trying. We're in the 21st century and he wants to show that anything is possible."

Hill said: "Harry is hard-working, cheeky and dedicated and he's determined not to let anything get in his way. He has been a brilliant addition to our team since he has joined us.

"The prosthetic arm is incredible and the magnet and wires are quite heavy which help when a horse is pulling. When it fails it's not great, although Harry can ride one-handed as he's not short on confidence.

"We've put out some feelers into the Formula One world to see if they could design something more lightweight and technological to help Harry progress to the next level."

Evidently Enright has sharpened up some of the other staff at Hill's yard since his arrival. The trainer added: "His aim is to ride in a charity race one day and he already rides a lot better than some of the people we've had here in the past and has a far better work ethic.

"One person rang up the other day and said they couldn't come in as their arm hurt from a Covid jab. I just replied: 'Welcome to Harry's world'. They came in later that morning."

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