Grand National winner retires

Grand National-winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald has announced his retirement.

The 38-year-old suffered neck and knee injuries during the famous steeplechase at Aintree this year and decided to hang up his silks.

Fitzgerald said: "It is hard to swallow when you finally realise it is the end.

"I suppose in many ways I'm lucky really. I smashed four vertebrae in my neck from the C6 up to C3, they were fairly badly damaged and I was lucky first of all to go to Royal Liverpool University Hospital and have a couple of discs removed and have the whole thing stabilised, because two of them had penetrated my spinal cord and I was a very lucky boy really.

"There was light at the end of the tunnel, especially when they got me back stable. I didn't want to walk away not on my own terms.

"Unfortunately in this situation I have got to listen to the experts."

After winning the Grand National on Rough Quest in 1996, he described the victory as "better than sex".

He also won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on See More Business in 1999.

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