Positive signs as injured jockey able to open eyes after race fall

Bailey Rogerson returns after winning on Burnished at Arawa Park in Rotorua on Sunday. Photo / Kenton Wright.

The family of injured apprentice jockey Bailey Rogerson are cautiously optimistic as her condition has improved slightly in Waikato Hospital.

The 24-year-old was injured in a race fall at Arawa Park racecourse in Rotorua on Sunday when she was dislodged from her horse after it was checked by a rival with 400m to run.

Rogerson was flown to Waikato Hospital and placed in an induced coma on Sunday with concerns about intracranial pressure, but her father, Gary, told the Herald on Tuesday morning that doctors hope to bring her fully out of that coma today.

“They are reducing her sedation and hope to take her off it today,” says Rogerson, the son of training legend Graeme Rogerson.

“When the sedation was being reduced this morning, Bailey was able to open her eyes for about 10 seconds, which is obviously a good sign.

“Her fiancee, Alex Forbes [horse trainer], was here with her as we had popped home to feed some horses so she always has somebody with her and while her condition is still serious there are some positive signs.”

X-rays show Rogerson has a fracture in her skull and neck but has movement in her limbs.

“We are hoping for some improvement today but we have also been told these things take time but things are more positive today than they were yesterday.

“Her vital signs are good.”

Rogerson is a popular member of the jockeys’ ranks who has ridden 58 winners, including one at Arawa Park on Sunday, just three races before the accident.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.