Graham Lee ‘humbled’ by racing club initiative
Amy Lee: ‘It’s so nice that something so positive comes out of something so awful.’
On the 20th anniversary of Graham Lee winning the Grand National on Amberleigh House, a new racing club was launched to help raise money for the jockey after he suffered life-changing injuries in a fall at Newcastle in November. The 48-year-old had a long and distinguished career in the saddle – under both codes. As well as winning the Grand National, he completed the unique double of riding the Gold Cup winner at Royal Ascot, via Trip To Paris. The Graham Lee Racing Club has been set up by the Good Racing Company, founded by Phil Hawthorne, who established a similar venture for former rugby league player Rob Burrow. They have purchased a two-year-old filly called We’ve Got This, in reference to a message Lee’s wife Becky posted on social media after the accident. Lee’s daughter Amy and son Robbie have been at the forefront of the fundraising, with the latter designing the club’s logo, featured around Lee’s favourite number 17, also the number Amberleigh House wore at Aintree and the cost, GBP 17, to join the venture, while Amy set up the initial Just Giving page.She said: “It’s so nice that something so positive comes out of something so awful. I love meeting people who know dad, everyone has their really cool stories and everyone has been wanting to help so much. It’s nice to create something positive. “When we set up a Just Giving page for dad, the target was GBP 100, last week it hit GBP 200,000 – which is crazy. I never expected that. “I’ve always said to dad every time he has a negative thought, there’s a donation to show him he needs to keep going, there are so many people behind him. “When he’s had his down days, we’ve sat there and we’ve read all the lovely messages and it always puts a smile on our faces. “We’ve had so much support and the McCoys have been like a second family to us – the night it happened AP picked me up, as I live near him, and he brought me up home.” She went on: “Dad is just dad to me. I never really clicked how incredible he was. I’ve always thought the world of him but another jockey said to me ‘he’s like God, he’s who everyone wants to be like’. It’s so nice to hear something like that.
We’ve Got This follows her lead horse on the gallops @EboracumRacing pic.twitter.com/4FjtXTltey
— Nick Robson (@ValueRacingPlus) April 3, 2024
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