07 March 2024 , 14:56
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Grand National-winning jockey Graham Lee is looking forward to watching the Cheltenham Festival from hospital.
The 48-year-old, who suffered life-changing injuries in a fall in November last year, has been visited by broadcaster Derek Thomson, the ex-Channel 4 Racing presenter.
Thomson released a photo of himself and a smiling Lee at the James Cook Hospital’s spinal unit in MIddlesbrough where Lee is being treated.
Lee, the only jockey to ride the winner of the Grand National and Ascot Gold Cup, suffered an unstable cervical fracture which caused damage to his spinal cord when he was unseated from a horse at the start of a race at Newcastle on November 10.
He is being supported by the Injured Jockeys Fund and receiving visits from friends and colleagues. Thomson, who saw Lee on Wednesday. said: “It was an absolute honour to see him. He has lost a lot of weight. He is down to 8st.
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“He can’t move anything below his neck. But he can talk all right, his head’s okay. He is being very well looked after in James Cook Hospital and he said the nurses have been absolutely brilliant.
“He is obviously finding it very difficult coming to terms with what has happened to him. He said he has hardly watched any racing because he would probably miss it. But he said he is very much looking forward to watching Cheltenham which is good news.”
Thomson and Lee had become friends over the years and used to work together on the Cheltenham Festival preview circuit.. The broadcaster said he had been badly shaken when hearing the news of the injury but felt encouraged having seen Lee hospital.
Graham Lee on Grand National winner Amberleigh House (Getty Images)“When I heard the news about Graham’s terrible fall, I was in tears,” said Thomson. “I like the guy a lot, he’s a pal. But when I came out of the hospital, I felt a bit better having seen him.
“This time last year we were doing a couple of Cheltenham evenings together so I told him I was booking him for next year now for the preview evenings in 2025 so he has something to look forward to.
“I love him to bits because he is the only man who got me to buy him dinner!”
A established by Amy Lee in support of the Injured Jockeys Fund has so far raised nearly £200,000.
A sponsored “Walk for Graham” is also being held on Sunday, April 14, on the Middleham Gallops. Thomson said he has donated his fee from his latest Cheltenham preview evening to the fund.