LOOK at her now and it is easy to see why Hollie Doyle is all smiles.
One of the best jockeys in the world, a record-breaking 2020 and a shot at winning tonight’s BBC Sports Personalty of the Year award – the world is hers.
Oh, and loved up with boyfriend Tom Marquand, who she jokingly calls a ‘jammy bugger’.
But back in a race at Haydock in 2018, Doyle, 24, suffered a fall that would be enough to put most people off ever riding again.
Doyle was aboard a horse called Snoop when it stumbled and unseated her.
But worse was to come.
At least three horses went over the top of her.
She was kicked under her jaw and had two teeth knocked out, which she accidentally swallowed.
Amazingly she was back riding ten days later, but 12 months of trips to the dentist were required to fix her smile.
She told SunSport that year: “I got knocked out but I remember waking up and thinking I was fine – until I swallowed some of my teeth!
“I lost five or six of my top teeth. All apart from the top two ones got repaired.
“I was pretty lucky. It is part-and-parcel of racing. My teeth can be replaced. My parents were worried but know it will happen at some stage.”
Talk about taking it in your stride.
But that has to be part of the genetic make-up of jockeys, who know the dangers associated with riding these animals at speeds of 40mph over twisting tracks.
AP McCoy – the only other jockey to be nominated for SPOTY – broke pretty much every bone in his body and all his teeth.
Doyle recently went over the experience again for The Times, saying being a jockey brings ‘risks’.
Quite the understatement.
Speaking of her Haydock horror, she said: “I smashed most of my teeth.
“There’s plenty of risks attached to the job. I just saw that as being part of the job.
“I remember a bit of it. I was knocked out.
“I didn’t actually realise I’d lost my teeth until I sat up and spat a few out.
“It didn’t hurt that much, I was just mortified when I looked in the mirror.
“It took a full year to get the teeth completely done but I knew when it happened they would replace them and it could have been worse.”
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