The Graham Lee Vickers.Bet Leger Legends Classified Stakes will be run in honour of Graham Lee during the final day of the St Leger meeting at Doncaster.
A top-level winning jockey under both codes, Lee sustained life-changing injuries in a Newcastle fall last November. A JustGiving page was set up by Lee's daughter Amy, for the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF) which has raised over £200,000. The race will see ex-jockeys riding to raise money for the IJF and the National Racing College. A charity golf event was also held on Monday.
“There's a good turnout, which is good, and it's good to get out and do things like this to help him,” Lee's son Robbie told Sky Sports Racing.
“He [Graham Lee] is doing OK. We've had a getaway at Oaksey House for the week and he's enjoyed that.
“He's doing well and keeping his physio going constant, so he's not giving up.
“It does help him getting a change of scenery and really gives him a reset and helps clear his mind.”
Lee's friend and former weighing-room colleague Andrew Thornton is one of the organisers of the Leger Legends event and is pleased the race will carry Lee's name on Sept. 15.
He said, “He's ridden 2,000 winners under both codes, it's remarkable.It's obviously very sad what happened, but we're all behind him and we're all doing what we can for him.
“This event is for the National Racing College and also for the Injured Jockeys Fund and Jack Berry House. Graham benefits through that and gave us his blessing to call it that this year.
“We've got past winners in Sammy-Jo Bell and Brian Harding taking part and Meg Nicholls is donning the silks again.
“We've got Gerald Mosse coming over [from France] and Tom Scudamore, Dickie [Richard] Johnson is having another crack and we've got an Irish contingent coming over as well including Mark Enright, Bryan Cooper and David Mullins–a Grand National-winning rider.”
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