'The journey has been hard' - Wesley Joyce celebrates first winner since life-threatening fall

Wesley Joyce: back among the winners at Cork on WednesdayCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Wesley Joyce's incredible courage and determination to get back doing what he loves most was rewarded at Cork on Wednesday when the 20-year-old jockey celebrated his first winner since returning from a life-threatening injury at Galway last summer.

The promising County Limerick native spent over a year on the sidelines as he recovered from a horror fall from Red Heel in the Listed Corrib Fillies Stakes, where he suffered numerous injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung, broken shoulder and fractured larynx.

It has been a long road back to the winner's enclosure for Joyce and his success on Trueba in the first division of the 7f handicap was not just the most heart-warming story of the day, but of the whole year.

"It’s been a while coming," Joyce told Racing TV. "I’ve been hitting the crossbar in the past three or four weeks with three or four seconds and a couple of thirds. I was thinking when was the winner going to come.

"Trueba gave me a winner early in my career, in Limerick, so he’s been a good servant for me. Since the fall the journey has been hard but to come back riding is all I ever wanted to do. I’m so grateful to be here riding, especially riding a winner.

"I’m back to 100 percent fitness but I was told that I’d only have 80 percent of my breathing, so I have to work extra hard on my fitness, which I’ve been doing.

"It’s great to have my mother here as it’s her first time to see me ride a winner. She’s happy and that’s all I want: to make her happy."

Joyce's mother Geraldine added: "We're delighted. I spent three three months in Galway Hospital with him and prayed every day that everything would be alright. I'm very proud of him."

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