February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Winston, who was leading the jockeys’ championship in Britain at the time of his fall, has admitted defeat in the race against Seb Sanders and Jamie Spencer on the grounds that to rush back for the sake of a title could be dangerous.
“It just doesn’t make sense for me to hurry back into racing,” he said. “My jaw is broken and I’m going to take my time with it to let it heel properly. If I rushed back, I could do more damage and it just isn’t worth it.”
Winston has established what was beginning to look like a winning lead over Sanders and Spencer when he came off Pearl’s A Singer on dodgy ground Saturday week but he insists he won’t be losing sleep over his lost opportunity.
“It’s no use dwelling on what might have been,” he said. “I can’t complain. I’m lucky to be here at all after what happened to me and I’ve had a fantastic season. I’ve ridden 115 winners in all — more than 80 percent of the jockeys in the weighing room will ride — and I’ve made a lot of new contacts for next year when I’ll be going all out for the title again. The whole experience has, if anything, made me even more determined.”