I FIRST read about Chris Meehan on Twitter around this time last summer. It was a story easy to pick out because it came from a non-racing media outlet. You know when a middle-of-the-week racing story gets picked up by a non-racing media outlet, it’s going to be something out of the ordinary.

“Jockey kicked in the face then run over by ambulance!” In an internet world devoured in clickbait and sensationalism, you’d be forgiven for doubting the accuracy of such a headline.

But sure enough, this is how it happened. Meehan was riding in Italy when he was thrown from his horse on the way down to the start. Kicked in the face, he was to require 27 stitches in his jaw but matters were made worse when the ambulance sent to aid him, ran over his leg.

It’s not far off something you’d see in a comedy sitcom. You could imagine Del Boy and Rodney driving the ambulance.

“What makes it worse my father, brother and aunty are all ambulance people,” Meehan explained when recovering from the incident. “My father actually teaches people to drive ambulances - you couldn’t make it up!”

The jockey was rightfully praised inside and out of racing circles for his reaction to the this ridiculous misfortune. He held a generally positive outlook with a bit of humour thrown in. “You have to laugh really!” he said at the time.

A lot of guys might have stayed quiet, either embarrassed or disgusted with the whole situation.

Quite remarkably, a couple of months later, as Meehan was recovering and trying to strengthen his leg again, he fell awkwardly on an exercise trampoline and then broke his leg in the exact same place. Ridiculous luck.

For all of the mentioned above, it was great to see the 22-year-old ride a winner at Limerick on Saturday, his first since coming back, his first in over a year.

Meehan produces Presenting Julio to lead at the last

The Co Down native is based with Gordon Elliott now and was riding Presenting Julio for the Meath trainer. He produced the nine-year-old with a well-timed run to take up the running just after the last and from there he was strong in the finish. Now he just wants to get his head down and his career up in running.

“It was great to get a winner and I’m very thankful to Gordon for giving me the opportunity,” Meehan said.

“The whole thing was a mess but it’s done now and there is no use crying over spilled milk. It’s in the past now and it’s just something I can have a laugh about with my mates.”

“After the injury I decided to come back to Ireland and have a go at riding in a top yard. Previously I had been riding in Britain for a few trainers - I spent some time at Neil Mulholland’s yard. I take each day as it comes now. Gordon Elliott’s yard is great place to be.”

Meehan’s winner at Limerick will hardly reach the attention of any non-racing websites, but after a week of that held two instances of truly awful news, it was nice to see a positive story emerging, however it may be on a smaller scale.

SAVING FOR GALWAY

There is a race worth €30,000 at Ballinrobe tonight and it has attracted just six runners. All you have to do is beat one home to win €450.

There are different ways you can look at this. It’s not great for Ballinrobe for one. The Mayo racecourse is a small track and this is one of their bigger races. It’s not great for a sponsor, who want the race they’ve invested in to be as interesting as possible. It’s not great for the punter attending Ballinrobe, the racing fan who wants to see decent racing, who wants a decent betting heat to get involved in.

The scene for Ballinrobe's first meeting of the season

The presumption is that horses who could have run in this race, a 10-furlong handicap, have been kept back for Galway, which gets under way next week. We’ve seen this before - Cheltenham can have a negative effect on big races in its vicinity. Last season’s Betfair Hurdle, worth over £150,000 only took 16 declarations.

You can see why people get perturbed with this sort of thing. You want to spread quality evenly amongst the season and ensure everyone gets their fair share.

However, there has to be something positive to take from the fact that owners and trainers are more than willing to forego fantastic monetary opportunities in order to pursue a winner of more sentimental value at a big festival. In a world of sport where the influence of money can often detract from the spectacle, this is, at the very least, a source of refreshment.

Many owners in Ireland would give their right hand for a winner at Ballybrit and there is the magic of the Galway Festival itself, and all the positive aspects it brings to the industry.

CATHY GANNON

It was sad to hear that Cathy Gannon has had to retire; the popular rider announcing the news at the weekend. The 35-year-old injured her foot in a stalls incident at Lingfield in May last year and though battling hard to rehabilitate, she has had to call time on a career that yielded an impressive 440 winners in Britain and Ireland.

The reaction of well-wishers says a lot about the regard she held. Gannon, like so many of our great jockeys, started off at the RACE Academy at the Curragh where she worked as apprentice to John Oxx. It was with Oxx that she achieved arguably her finest moment, becoming the first and only female jockey to win the Irish apprentice jockeys' championship in 2004, finishing four winners clear of Rory Cleary with Padraig Beggy back in third.

Gannon catching up with her old boss John Oxx in the Curragh weighing room in 2011

Gannon moved to Britain in 2006 where her chief employer was David Evans. She also rode plenty of winners for Henry Candy, Kevin Ryan and Andrew Balding. She won three ‘Lester’ awards for Lady Jockey of the Year and her best tally of 71 winners in 2011 saw her finish 25th in the British Flat Jockeys Championship.

Alongside Hayley Turner, Gannon’s achievements should not be undervalued in their effect on paving a clearer passage for young female jockeys such as Josephine Gordon and Sammy Jo Bell, to come through. Her contribution to the industry will not cease as she intends to get involved with jockey coaching when she moves her family back to Ireland in October.