Racing: Fall and rise of Norman Williamson

'DON'T move me,' gasped Norman Williamson as St John ambulancemen went to his aid after this dispute with a set of hooves at Uttoxeter on Saturday.

The young Irishman had just fallen from steeplechaser Punch's Hotel in the 3.00 race when Morgans Harbour (No. 7), ridden by David Bridgwater, clattered into him, bruising his body and denting his helmet.

Yet another horse, Richard Dunwoody's mount Rathmore, was trampling him a moment later, this time leaving Williamson lying very still but clutching his thigh. 'I was sure I'd broken it,' the jockey said yesterday.

The incident looked horrific from the stands where many feared the 24- year-old had sustained serious injury as he was lifted by stretcher into an ambulance and driven to the course's medical room.

There, one way of discovering whether the leg was broken was to stand on it. Williamson did, and minutes later surprised racegoers by returning to ride in the next race, the 3.35, the four-mile-two-furlong Midlands National.

(Photograph omitted)