The Midlands' most promising young female jockey is seriously ill in hospital after being crushed by her horse during a race.
Ledbury teenager Lizzie Merrick was injured in a three horse pile-up at Garnon's racecourse in Herefordshire last weekend.
Miss Merrick, the stepdaughter of Market Street auctioneer Howard Pugh, has been unconcious on a ventilator at Hereford Hospital all week.
The horse she was riding, Orient Bay, fell while going down a hill and rolled over her.
Her mother, Sally, who has worked as a professional nurse, was one of the first people to get to the 17-year-old.
She and her family have nothing but praise for the on-course medics, who also got to the youngster very quickly and made her comfortable, before the ambulance arrived.
Mr Pugh, who was present on the day, said: "The medics did the necessaries, with splints and drips and they were absolutely brilliant."
The equine community has also rallied round since the accident.
Mr Pugh said: "There have been a tremendous number of phone calls from jockeys and the racing fraternity, and the offers of help and support have been wonderful."
He said Lizzie, a former pupil of the John Masefield High School and Bosbury Primary, was conscious throughout and at first no-one realised how very badly injured she was.
But both lungs had been crushed and she had also suffered a broken femur, four broken ribs, a dislocated collar bone and shoulder and severe bruising.
Mr Pugh said his stepdaughter was enjoying her second season of point-to-point racing a nd, although still classed as a novice, she was quite an experienced rider.
He said: "Lizzie is a mature and sensible person and horses have been her life. The last time she rode point-to-point before this, at Whitwick in February, she was third."
Since leaving high school, Lizzie has been working at the Sheppard Yard at Eastnor. She has also been attending riding courses at Newmarket.
Her horse suffered severe bruising in the accident.
Mr Pugh said he expected Lizzie to be on a ventilator for several weeks and added: "It's touch and go whether she will have to go to a specialist unit in Leicester."
Doctors at Hereford, described as "fantastic" by Mr Pugh, are deliberately keeping her unconscious and have pinned her broken leg.
The accident follows the untimely death of Anna De Lisle Wells earlier this month. The 23-year-old, who was due to race at Cheltenham this week, hanged herself in her family's stables on March 1.
