Champion Jockey Offers Cost Price Care for Colleagues
Cheltenham champion jockey, Sam Waley-Cohen has sealed a deal to provide his fellow jockeys with cost price dental care.
Waley-Cohen, who is best known for his victorious Gold Cup ride on Long Run, is also an entrepreneur who owns a string of dental practices and is now offering cost price dental treatment for colleagues after reaching an agreement with the Professional Jockeys Association.
As part of the deal, jockeys will receive reduced prices, access to the best dentists in the country, free consultations for dental implants and custom-made mouth guards to protect their teeth. The deal will come as welcome news to jockeys, who are prone to dental damage as a result of falling off horses at speed. Just last year, television viewers winced watching an interview between BBC Sport’s Clare Balding and jockey Liam Treadwell, in which she quizzed the sportsman about the unsightly appearance of his teeth. Shortly after, Treadwell showed off a brand new set of gnashers.
In recent years many jockeys have started wearing mouth guards and now around half of those who race wear a protective gum shield. Jockeys have clashed with doctors on the efficacy of mouth guards, with Dr Michael Turner, chief medical officer at the British Horseracing Authority, claiming that it is rubbish that gum shields help to prevent concussion, while jockeys maintain that the guards absorb shock, reducing the impact of a fall.
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