This leading jockey ‘remembers everything’ from the high-speed accident that left her bedridden

By Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — “I remember everything. I was lucky enough where I didn’t lose consciousness,” Emma-Jayne Wilson tells CNN Sports via a video call from her home near Toronto, Canada.

“I remember the speed and severity of my impact to the ground was odd. I’ve come off horses in races before, but this was fast.”

Wilson, the highest-earning female jockey in the history of the sport, is recalling the moment her life and career turned upside down, when she suffered a horrific horse racing accident in October last year.

The 42-year-old had been racing at her home track in Toronto when the horse she was on suffered a suspected cardiac arrest.

In a split second, while traveling at incredible speed, Wilson was sent flying into the racing rail, eventually coming to a stop in a heap on the track.

Her back had taken the brunt of the impact and her resulting injuries were severe, including fractures to both her neck and, in particular, her pelvis.

After keeping still on the track as she awaited medical attention, Wilson was rushed to hospital where doctors worked to stabilize her condition as much as possible. It was instantly clear, she says, that this accident was far worse than normal.

Wilson remained bedridden in the hospital for a few weeks as her body started recovering from the trauma. Incredibly, though, her prognosis was a positive one.

“The severity of those fractures and the repair job that was required was massive and extensive,” she says, as she now works towards making a full recovery.

“It was a lot to manage. I was quite heavily medicated and I was thankful for that because two months later, my wife showed me pictures, and it was like a visceral response.”

Prognosis

After a few weeks in the hospital, Wilson was discharged in November to continue her recovery at home. Progress, though, was initially slow and she remained unable to put any weight on her legs until January.

Her wife became her primary caregiver and the family had to make alterations to the house to fully enable her to recover.

“It was difficult for myself, physically and mentally. It was difficult for my family to manage,” she tells CNN.

Now, Wilson is in a positive place. She progressed to using a wheelchair, then a walking frame, then a cane, and now she’s able to walk unassisted.

Her full-time job involves working on her recovery, with Wilson spending every day going to the gym, the swimming pool and attending other medical checkups.

While admitting that not every day is a good one, her new routine has given her structure and a plan which has already proved to be fruitful.

With a return to horse riding still further along the timeline, she is just happy to be able to do the simple things in life, like walk her two twin daughters to school.

“My daughters were giving me hugs on the way and just saying how happy they are that I’m back to normal,” Wilson says, adding she can’t express in words how much she has appreciated the support of her loved ones in the last few months.

“So there’s been a lot of positivity around it as well, which has been really helpful for me mentally.”

Wilson says she feels “lucky” to have dodged what could have been a far more devastating prognosis, given the complexity of her injuries.

Others in similar situations have lost far more than a few months of activity and that has offered some perspective to her recovery process.

The goal, though, is clear. Wilson wants to return to racing and had an eye on opening day at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack, where she had her accident, on April 26.

But the jockey, who has almost 2,000 wins to her name, is now reluctant to put a timeline on her recovery, instead focusing on a return to full strength, both mentally and physically.

“One of the main things I have always respected is the risk of injury as a jockey, it’s not changed from the first day I threw my leg over a racehorse to the last day,” she says.

“That doesn’t change for me at all. I’m absolutely eager and willing to get back into the game.

“It’s a sport that I love, the animals that I love, the competition that I love, and I have every intent to be 100% fully fit, fully strong, fully ready when loading the gates for the next race.”

‘There is nothing like that energy’

The timing of the accident meant Wilson didn’t miss a huge amount of racing over the winter months, which allowed her to take things slowly.

During the initial weeks, she found watching racing tough but has recently enjoyed dipping her toes back into the community.

Despite the accident, her love for the sport remains palpable and she says she’s missed the sensation of racing horses. At no point, she tells CNN, did she ever consider walking away.

“If I could bottle the feeling up and sell it, or bring people on my back to experience it, there is nothing like that energy,” she says, reflecting on why she loves the sport.

“When (horses) eyeball that horse beside them and they say, ‘Let’s go’ – they want it. They want it as bad as you do, and when that connection hits that electric level, there is nothing like it.”

For now, though, Wilson is fully focused on the little steps and the mini-wins which will one day culminate in her return to the track.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.