Four months after airlift drama Bryan Carver is back in the saddle

Bryan Carver will be back in the saddle at Stratford on Monday for the first time since being airlifted to hospital in France after a skiing accident.

The 24-year-old jockey spent a week in intensive care in Grenoble after rupturing his spleen while on holiday at the end of April, but after time at the Injured Jockeys Fund's Oaksey House in Lambourn and South West Hub in Taunton, Carver returned to France to begin riding out again before starting his season.

"Everything has gone really well," he said on Sunday. "I did things a small bit differently this time. Obviously the spleen isn't something you can rehab and speed up the process of how it heals, so you've just got to be patient and let it do what it's got to do.

"Thankfully it's all healed up very well. I spent some time in Oaksey House and I spent some time in the Injured Jockeys' Fund's new South West Hub in Taunton. They've both been brilliant. The IJF has once again been brilliant, I've made plenty of use of them in the past year!"

He continued: "I went off to a few different places and I just came back from France yesterday. I was out there schooling and back riding out there just to get the fitness back, and I'm good to go tomorrow."

Having racked up 34 winners in 2020-21, injuries curtailed Carver's campaign last season, when he managed 15 winners, and after riding out his claim in April he is looking to light up the scoreboard once more.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back," he said. "It's just getting back into the swing of things before the season starts to get busy.

"The goal for the season is to get back to where I was two seasons ago when I had 34 winners. Last season was more difficult, what with picking up injuries along the way. It's about mainly keeping in one piece and riding as many winners as I can."

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