€50,000 donation leads to call for Irish jockey charities to merge

Champion jockey Ruby Walsh has called for an amalgamation of

the existing jockey charities on the back of a widely lauded €50,000 donation by Moyglare Stud owner, Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner.

The money was given to the organisation Irish Injured Jockeys (IIJ), of which Walsh is chairman, in ongoing provision for support for badly injured riders, including Robbie McNamara who was left paralysed after a fall at Wexford last year.

Bucher-Haefner made the donation at the Moyglare Dinner last weekend and said: “We need to look after our own. The priority after any accident is that the injured jockey receives immediate care and support to remove the worry for both themselves and their families, and hence be able to face the future with optimism.”

Awareness

The IIJ was set up in 2014 to increase awareness and raise funds to support injured jockeys after injuries to John Thomas McNamara and Jonjo Bright.

Walsh said: “The ongoing needs of jockeys would be best served by the amalgamation of the IIJ and the existing jockey charities. This would provide a unified structure clearly understood within the industry and the public at large, which engages immediately with the injured jockey.”

Four charities

The Turf Club currently administers, without charge, four charities. They include the

Jockeys Emergency Fund

, set up in 1997, and the Drogheda Fund, which helps jockeys and trainers who have fallen on hard times.

"Each of the charities has its own specific role," said the Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan, who also praised the Moyglare Stud owner's donation and added: "We work with Irish Injured Jockeys on an ongoing basis."