The 2019 Ultima Handicap Chase winner at the Cheltenham Festival has been forced into retirement after failing to recover from injuries suffered after a fall while riding Vegas Blue at an all-weather jumpers’ bumper event last year.
Six-time British jump racing Champion Trainer Nicky Henderson is a big fan of Henderson. The 71-year-old is keen for McGrath to continue working at Seven Barrows Stables located near Lambourn in Berkshire.
McGrath has been forced to call time on his successful riding career at the age of 31 as the injuries he sustained after the fall has failed to heal sufficiently for him to continue racing. The jockey suffered a broken and dislocated hip and shoulder and feared he wouldn’t walk again. He needed two operations in which doctors pinned and plated his broken bones.
McGrath and Henderson had a fruitful professional relationship with McGrath in the saddle. The two victories in the Cheltenham Festival were won with McGrath in the saddle; the 2012 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Hurdle with Une Artiste and the 2019 Ultima Handicap Chase aboard Beware The Bear.
Henderson said: “He’s been a very special man to us. He’s been at Seven Barrows a long time, and he is part of the place – and we really want him to remain here,”
“We all feel desperately sorry for him, and I know he wanted to go on for a bit longer, he wasn’t ready to retire just yet. It broke his heart not to be able to continue because he was very good at it.
“He is a wonderful horseman and the nicest guy you’ll ever come across. He’s such a team player. The owners loved him, and some would specifically ask for him to ride their horses.
“Sandy and Caroline Orr loved him, and he had a tremendous association with Theinval for them, and he won at the Festival on Beware The Bear for George and Ann Barlow – that was a great day, it meant an awful lot to me and the Barlows, it was a first Festival winner for them.
“You got continuity from Jerry, and they knew he would always make himself available for them.”
Henderson praised McGrath for doing so well, despite the immense quality that was available for him to choose from, saying: “There was a time we had a great squad of riders. We had Jerry, Nico (De Boinville), David Bass and Tinks (Andrew Tinkler), with Barry (Geraghty) at the head of it,” said Henderson.
“There’s only two poor souls still here from then, but they’ve all gone on to have good careers.
“The great thing about Jerry is that he is already helping me enormously with the entries and he has already got a second career in the bloodstock world, he is absolutely fascinated by it all. I think he knows the pedigree of every horse in England!
“He’s got connections and friends all over the racing world that I hope will be supporting him in what he is going to do next.
“He’ll be doing lots of that but hopefully he’ll be staying on with our operation as well because he’ll be a big asset to us, watching work and schooling every day.
“I feel desperately sorry for him, he wasn’t going out on his own terms which is never easy, but he’s tailor-made for the bloodstock game and we wish him all the best – but he’s not going anywhere.”
McGrath revealed to the Racing Post how he ‘didn’t feel anything’ and although he is still in pain, he is grateful that he has sensation.
“I couldn’t feel my legs – so to be honest, anything better than that is a bonus.”, the 2019 Cheltenham Winner said.
