The jockey had remarkable career triumphs but he’s still infamous for punching a horse and a rival rider. Davy Russell’s wife, Edelle, sometimes brings out a skeleton that resembles his battered body during her anatomy classes at school. The skeleton looks as if it has contracted measles because it is covered in red dots, with each dot marking a bone that Russell broke during his 21 years as a professional jump jockey. He had a remarkable career where he became Ireland’s champion jockey three times, won the Grand National twice, as well as the Gold Cup, while also being infamous for punching a horse and a rival rider before he finally stopped racing in 2023.
![[Donald McRae]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/01/15/Donald_McRae,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“It doesn’t bother me,” Russell says as he confirms that the skeleton is still wheeled out at Edelle’s school down the road from where he and I have lunch in his kitchen in Youghal, a small town less than an hour from Cork. “When there’s a quiz on the telly and they ask where is the ulna bone, your fibula or tibia, I know every answer.”.
![[Davy Russell on his farm in Youghal, Co. Cork, Ireland.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/083492114091071782c66dce93b72114b7923aaa/0_138_3600_2161/master/3600.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Russell puts down his delicious chicken sandwich and chews thoughtfully when I ask how many bones he broke while racing. “A lot,” he says cheerfully as he knows that he still won many more races. “Pretty much my whole body has been broken – both my eye sockets, both sides of my face, my neck, lower back, ribs. My arms.
![[Davy Russell after winning the Grand National with Tiger Roll in 2018.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/88dc273488949a6c1219c616714b83dc11125cf2/0_139_2980_1787/master/2980.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“You can see the bolts in one arm and if I hit it now, in the wrong place, oh Jesus! I bruised my heart, punctured my lungs, broke both fibulas and tibias, dislocated both ankles. My toes. I broke my big toe when it got caught in the railings.” The 45-year-old holds up his hands. “I had loads of bother with these bones. As you can see, there’re still lumps and bumps on them. I dislocated both thumbs. Then there were the cuts and stitches. So there was a stage when I could have been a model, but … ”.
