Former jockey who was pronounced dead for six seconds after a fall in 2013 has embarked on a new training career with some high-profile owners 

Star Sports is the new sponsor of Brian Toomey’s yard in Buckinghamshire.

The 34-year-old, who was forced to retire as a jockey after a horrific fall at Perth in 2013 which almost claimed his life, has embarked on his first full season as a trainer, based at Bowstridge Farm in Chalfont St Giles.

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After being granted his trainer’s licence in October, he has already secured some high-profile owners, including Amo Racing, Clipper Logistics, Jimmy Fyffe and Jeff Smith. Harry Redknapp provided him with his first winner when Wake Up Harry won at Kempton on 20^th December.

Toomey joins leading jockey Harry Skelton and recently retired legendary rider Davy Russell in Star Sports’ stable of racing ambassadors. He will provide regular updates on the yard’s runners, his views on the biggest races and meetings during the Flat season, and video content looking back at his career as a jockey, his recovery from the fall and life as a new trainer.

“Becoming a trainer has been a dream for a long time,” said Toomey. “My story is an unusual one and I know how lucky I am to be here.

“I’m hugely grateful to all the owners who have supported me at such an early stage of my career, my landlord at Bowstridge Farm as it’s such a brilliant place to train and now to my new sponsors, Star Sports.

“I’m looking forward to telling my story as a new trainer and updating Star Sports’ customers on our runners, as well as my views on the big races and issues in the industry.”

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Luke Tarr, Head of PR at Star Sports, said: “Brian’s story is truly inspirational. To achieve what he has, both in his recovery from such a serious head injury and in his determined pursuit of a trainer’s licence, shows exactly what he is made of, and we are delighted to sponsor the yard.

“He has already attracted some massive owners and we’re excited to produce some top-quality content with Brian at the beginning of what we’re sure will be a very successful training career.”

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Provider’s robust engine processed 397 million account transactions during top horse racing festival

OpenBet, a leading content, platform and service provider to the sports betting industry, has reported impressive results at this year’s Grand National Festival, processing 101,000 peak bets per minute, which represents an increase of 21% year-on-year.

The 2024 edition of the iconic race held at Aintree saw jockey Paul Townend secure his first Grand National win with joint-favourite I Am Maximus. During the horse racing festival, OpenBet’s robust betting engine powered the account transactions for market-leading operators such as William Hill, Entain and Flutter, delivering a seamless betting experience for their customers.

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Despite a reduced field size of 34 runners during the flagship race, betting interest remained extremely high across the three-day festival, which remains one of the busiest horse races of the year.

Significant highlights across OpenBet’s customers included:

• 101,000 peak bets per minute (BPM), 21% increase vs 2023
• 3,000 peak bets per second, 34% increase vs 2023
• 397 million account transactions, 3% increase vs 2023
• Average Win and Each Way stake was £5.42
• 100% uptime

Florian Diederichsen, CTO at OpenBet, said: “We continue to deliver record-breaking results at OpenBet, across some of the world’s major sporting events.

“This year, the Grand National continued to attract extraordinary levels of bettors. With an average win and each way stake being £5.42, any downtime would have risked £100,000s of lost turnover. However, our operator partners were able to deliver a seamless betting experience for the historical event with the support of our highly experienced team, and industry-leading technology. We look forward to delivering even more success during the summer of sport ahead.”