Hollie Doyle swallowed two teeth, lost six more and needed a year’s worth of work to fix smile after being KO’d by horse

LOOK at her now and it is easy to see why Hollie Doyle is all smiles. She is one of the best jockeys in the world, came third in Sports Personality of the Year and is eyeing up a huge 2021 with the Flat season about to start in full. Oh, and loved up with […]

LOOK at her now and it is easy to see why Hollie Doyle is all smiles.

She is one of the best jockeys in the world, came third in Sports Personality of the Year and is eyeing up a huge 2021 with the Flat season about to start in full.

Oh, and loved up with fiance Tom Marquand, another superstar jockey at the top of his game.

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 – a huge outsider at 66-1 – when it stumbled and unseated her.

But worse was to come.

At least three horses went right over the top of her.

She was kicked under her jaw and had two teeth knocked out, which she accidentally swallowed.

She was rushed to hospital but amazingly back riding ten days later – however 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’.

Getty Images - Getty

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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