A jockey has announced that he has retired from racing after being warned that another head injury could prove fatal. Blake Spriggs, 33, who has ridden nearly 700 winners over a 16-year career, narrowly escaped death in a horrific fall in January when the horse he was riding tripped over the heels of another during a race at Moruya in Australia.

He was airlifted to hospital alongside fellow jockey Beany Panya, who was also seriously injured in the same incident. She soon underwent spinal surgery and has not yet returned to racing.

Spriggs, whose partner is reality TV star KC Osborne, known for her appearance on the show Married At First Sight, was in a critical condition for a number of days.

He sustained a fractured collarbone and left forearm, dislocated left elbow, numerous rib fractures, both lungs collapsed haemorrhaging to his liver, his kidneys also shut down and he had bruising to his brain.

"Essentially, I was on the track drowning in my own blood but the paramedics saved my life,'' Spriggs revealed to Racenet. "I was rushed to hospital and KC was told to prepare for the worst as they were not sure I was going to make it.

"I don't have any memory of that as I was heavily sedated for about two weeks. When they tried to bring me out of sedation the machines would start going off so they had to keep putting me back under.