Is racing doing enough to support jockeys' mental health? The reality is it could hardly be doing more

Any death by suicide raises a host of difficult questions. Most acutely, the questions are asked by those who are grieving. Whenever someone working in racing has ended their own life, questions are also asked by and of the sport. At the start of Mental Health Week, it is worth highlighting that the answers to those wider industry questions are positive and offer hope.

In recent months the racing community has been devastated by the deaths of Tommie Jakes and Sam Lee, two young men recently remembered in a powerful Sky News report that asked: "Is enough being done for jockeys' mental health?"

Among those interviewed in Rob Harris's film was Ben Bromley, who in December announced his retirement from the saddle at the age of 23. Speaking to the Racing Post at the time, he admitted to having been in "a really bad place mentally". 

• 'I was in a really bad place mentally' - Ben Bromley opens up on decision to quit riding at 23

Bromley had been due to ride a horse running off bottom weight at Exeter on New Year's Day and therefore was "starved". On discovering the meeting had been abandoned, he went straight to McDonald's.

"I hadn't eaten anything for a few days," Bromley told Harris, painting a shocking picture of what some jockeys put themselves through just to do their job. 

Equally sobering were the words of Jakes's mother Toni, who bravely addressed the loss of her 19-year-old son and explained that all had seemed well when he returned home the night before he died.

To her great credit, Jakes now wants to make a difference and help others.

"I think lots of sports have problems," she told Harris, adding: "I don't know whether racing is just a little bit behind with the way welfare is sorted?"

The Injured Jockeys Fund and Professional Jockeys Association both offer tailed mental health support to ridersCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Given her circumstances, it is perfectly understandable for Jakes to have that concern. The reality, however, is that British racing offers a level of support far in advance of that available in many other jurisdictions and sports. 

If there was one surprising aspect to the Sky News film, it is that although it featured an interview with Racing Welfare chief executive Dawn Goodfellow, it included no input from the Injured Jockeys Fund or Professional Jockeys Association, nor informed viewers about how they can and do help those who feel able to tackle their mental health challenges.

"In a sport facing a mental health crisis, it needs racing leaders to listen and to act," said Harris. It is important to stress that British racing is acting.

Thanks to the IJF and PJA, currently licensed and former jockeys who are struggling have a number of channels through which they can seek expert help. 

There is a 24-hour jockey helpline (07780 008877) run by Sporting Chance, a charity that specialises in mental health wellbeing in elite sports environments. There is easy access to counselling, clinical psychology and sports psychology, with a Sporting Chance psychologist working from each of the IJF's rehabilitation centres every week. 

Since last year the IJF – which since 2020 has spent £1.6 million on counselling costs – has also been offering the use of an app called Thrive that offers anonymous mental health support.

Crucially, these are services that are being used. 

In the last seven months the IJF has helped 101 beneficiaries with more than 660 sessions of therapy. In March alone there were 12 new referrals to Sporting Chance, which delivered 80 sessions in the same month, while across the last six months Thrive has had 37 users. Thirteen of those individuals entered into consistent therapy, with 11 of them reporting they ended up feeling recovered. 

From referrals via the PJA between 2022 and 2025, 153 jockeys used the services of Sporting Chance, which thereafter delivered 651 counselling sessions, 452 sports psychology sessions and five residential stays.

"Our financial commitment since 2026 has been significant, but that's dwarfed by the human resource and holistic support we continue to provide." says IJF chief executive Lisa Hancock. 

"It's worth every penny and every phone call if we can change even one life for the better."

• WATCH:  What pressures do jockeys face and what help is available?

If there is one area where racing arguably suffers, it is in relation to team sports that can have psychologists embedded within the team. The nature of racing makes that vastly harder to achieve, yet in a welcome development there has been a noticeable increase in peer-to-peer support, with jockeys and valets increasingly likely to raise concerns about friends and colleagues. 

Inevitably, however, not everyone can or will be saved. We must therefore be grateful to those who have got better and feel brave enough to go public.

One such person is former jockey Kevin Tobin. Six years ago he told me about how and why he sank into a pit of despair. He twice came close to taking his own life and he addressed that in detail, doing so because he believes it is beneficial to talk openly about suicide. 

When we spoke in 2020 he was doing well. That remains the case now. Indeed, Tobin is helping others through his work as a counsellor in the United States.

"Even when someone is so sad that they prefer the thought of dying to living one more day, that sadness isn't permanent," said Tobin in that 2020 interview. 

"The outpouring of love and sorrow for those people when they pass away should tell anyone who has their head in that space that there's so much love out there for you. The world is far better off with us in it than not. You'll be all right, maybe not right now, but you'll be all right."

You will also find that help is available. When tragedy strikes, it is understandable why some people question whether racing is doing enough in relation to mental wellbeing. 

The reality is that for jockeys, and indeed for all in the sport's family, racing is doing a lot. Yet just as mental illness can often be invisible, mental health treatment can be similarly invisible because it must be carried out on a confidential basis. 

While many individual stories will never be told, it is important that those who need help are not mistakenly led to believe it is not there for them. It very much is.

This is a free sample of Lee Mottershead’s weekly column. Racing Post+ Ultimate subscribers can read more pieces from Lee here:

'Perception doesn't bother me - I don't care what people think. If you don't like it, you don't like it - I've not done anything wrong' 

'I enjoy making money and it's so easy to do, all you need is a brain' - the gospel according to Saint Mick  

'I go to parties because people invite me but I'm happier here - if I never saw another person, it wouldn't bother me' 

'I've made a million mistakes' - Frankie Dettori recalls the highs and lows of his extraordinary career in a straight-talking interview 

Meet the former jockey who took $15m off Atlantic City - and is now one of the world's biggest racing punters 

'The days leading up to the race were the most nerve-racking of my career and this added even more pressure - I was furious' 

‘I’ve never had to deal with that in my career and I did find it hard - you start asking yourself what you’re doing wrong’ 

'The grief hits me quite a lot - so many people think I'm really tough but I get terribly upset by things inwardly'  

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