'That one's for him' - tears flow as winning team rally round paralysed jockey via FaceTime after emotional success

The winning jockey was in tears. So was another in a hospital three kilometres away. This was for Nico.

Nicolas Gauffenic, known to friends as Nico, had a life-changing fall at Auteuil in April. He remains in the European Hospital Georges Pompidou fighting to regain movement in his legs. A horse called Nectaris, who he used to ride, was running in a race he had pinpointed – but without him.

Part-owned by Gauffenic's partner Manon Louche, ridden by his close friend Kevin Nabet and trained by his friends, and employers, Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, Nectaris won the €126,500 Listed Prix le Guales de Mezaubran by two and a half lengths at Auteuil on Saturday. The emotions hit before the second crossed the line.

A winner's enclosure FaceTime with Gauffenic in his hospital bed made it very clear he was in tears. His tears brought the same reaction from those on the other side of the phone.

A young racegoer shows their support for Nicolas Gauffenic

Nabet was wiping away tears of his own having ridden his friend's favourite horse to victory at the very track he sustained his injury.

George said: "It's very emotional. One of my good mates, and our second jockey, had a very bad fall a month ago now. At the moment he can't move his legs and is in re-education trying to get them moving again. Hopefully this motivates him.

"He's in good form. His partner has a share in the horse and Nico said we should go for this race. Kevin went to see him before today and he said, 'Sit last, he won't be keen, when you put him in the race he will fly home' and it's all down to him we ran, let alone won.

"We're all mates in Chantilly and we go and see him often. Kevin is one of his best friends. 

"It's great for the team, that one's for Nico."

Gauffenic fell at the rail ditch and fence during the Prix de la President de la Republique in April and was taken to the Georges Pompidou, where he was operated on for a fractured T7 vertebra.

The racing world has rallied round in the weeks since, with Hugh Nugent and amateur jockey Henri Barbe raising more than €37,000 to aid Gauffenic in his recovery by running the Nantes Marathon.

Gauffenic, 30, has been a key part of the emerging force of George and Zetterholm’s operation. He won his first Grade 1 last May, the Prix Ferdinand Dufaure, aboard the Emmanuel Clayeux-trained Kolokico, who will be ridden by James Reveley in Sunday’s Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.

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