Racing doesn't happen without the sacrifices of people like Graham Lee and Richard Bevis - now they need our support

Towards the end of last year Graham Lee suffered appalling injuries in a fall from Ben Macdui as the field left the stalls for a 5f handicap at Newcastle in November. 

It was a horrible reminder of how utterly indiscriminate the fates can be that someone who had ridden for 30-odd years, competing at the sharp end over jumps for much of that time – including conquering Aintree's Grand National course when it was still a fearsome test aboard Amberleigh House in 2004 – could meet such a terrible setback at the starting gate of a nondescript all-weather sprint in the twilight of a distinguished career.  

Lee suffered fractures to his cervical spine and recently came off a ventilator in James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, close to his wife Becky, daughter Amy and son Robbie. It is a harrowing reality for a man who was, in my experience, one of the weighing room's most genuine and decent people. 

During my time in Britain, I was lucky enough to ride against and spend plenty of time with Lee, and there weren't many more amiable and humble characters in the jockeys' hub back then. He has always been a gent of a man.

Lee was an intelligent rider with a deeply competitive streak whose career flourished quite late, and his was a triumph for hard work and a fairly deeply considered commitment. He had a fabulous knack of being able to lighten the mood with a witty quip or one-liner, but he turned out to be the ultimate pro's pro, and that trait was just as evident in any dealings I have had with him over the years since I moved into journalism.

Lee is always inclined to greet you with a compliment and tell you that you are riding well or writing well, immediately putting you at ease in his company. 

For someone who in 2017 would reveal he had been grappling with depression, his chipper and often phlegmatic personality, despite his own inner turmoil, feels like a testament to his selflessness and strength of character. It is an extraordinary incongruity that someone who feels so bad about themselves can have the capacity to make others feel so good about themselves.

Like anyone else who would have got to know Lee over the years, there isn't a day goes by now that he isn't in my thoughts, and sadly the onset of 2024 has brought with it another desperately cruel blow to a similarly charming guy in Richard Bevis, who has long been one of Nigel Twiston-Davies's right-hand men at Naunton.

Richard 'Sparky' Bevis pictured with the 2010 Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander at NauntonCredit: Edward Whitaker

On Tuesday, we learned that Bevis, or 'Sparky' as he is known to his friends, has been left in intensive care after he was found on his farm with a fractured skull and eye socket. What exactly happened is unclear, but it appears the accident occurred when he was operating machinery.

At this stage, while we don't know the prognosis, he has also been placed on a ventilator and been put in an induced coma. 

It is another unbearably brutal and inexplicably random incident that has rocked the racing community. For those looking in from the outside, Bevis, who is immensely popular, might have operated in the background, but he is a fine horseman and a real grafter who played a pivotal role in the careers of iconic chasers such as Dublin Flyer at Captain Tim Forster's and then Imperial Commander and Bristol De Mai during a near 20-year stint with Twiston-Davies. 

He also trained for a while himself, and 25 years ago at a low-key Carlisle meeting I rode his first winner when Court Ordeal got up on the line to land a decent little touch. 

His training career never quite took off, but it's a memory I have always cherished and hearing about his terrible misfortune knocked me for six. In the space of a couple of months, he and Lee have had these harrowing ordeals thrust upon them and their families.

While we all exist in the knowledge that bad things can happen to good people, these galling predicaments are difficult to reconcile, and the slightly mysterious nature of both incidents renders the inscrutable aspect even more pronounced. 

The inherent perils of horseracing, a high-octane sport that turns on speed and is dependent on the whims of a cavalry of volatile, often intractable animals that weigh half a tonne each, means that disaster is never far away. Lee and Bevis have lived with that reality all of their lives, yet they have been poleaxed late in their respective careers by these relatively obscure incidents. It doesn't seem remotely fair.

Their plights are impossible to comprehend, and all we can do as racing fans is support them and their families. To that end, the children of both men have set up individual fundraising pages to aid their causes, with more than a quarter of a million pounds already raised cumulatively. Every penny will be needed.

If we all give a little, it would add up to a lot, and there are going to be many other initiatives in the months ahead. The good people at the Galway Races, for example, have scheduled a black tie summer ball in Lee's honour for the Saturday of their race week on August 3, which should be a massive fund-raiser for someone who grew up down the road in the suburb of Mervue. 

It behoves us all to donate what we can because racing doesn't happen without the sacrifices people like Lee and Bevis make for our amusement. Now is the time to give something back. 

Members Club Ultimate subscribers can read more columns by Richard Forristal below:

Constitution Hill never comes out of second gear yet we're going to see him three times this season - it's a sorry situation 

Overhaul of the Graded programme long overdue - and it could be a catalyst for change if big owners need to look for an edge 

The IHRB is judged on deeds not words - and 2023 has been a shambles 

Fairyhouse's big weekend shows that 'festivalisation' clearly works - if you have the horses and a coherent strategy 

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