For most people arriving at work the potential of paralysis, or death, would not even enter their mind. However for Canberra jockey Jamie Whitney the potential risk is always at the forefront of his mind - and was moments before he suffered a broken neck and a hairline fracture above his right elbow in a freak riding accident at Narromine on the weekend. "It's a jockey's worse nightmare," he said. "It really is just ridiculous how dangerous it can become. "But it is most definitely one of the risks and all jockeys know that, but if you were out there thinking it was ever going to happen to you then you wouldn't ever do it." Mr Whitney was injured after his mount Desert Fairy clipped the heels of a runner in front of him and triggered a four-horse fall - a number of which fell on him as he lay motionless on the track. "I had a run between two horses and the inside horse shifted out and the next thing I knew I was on the ground," he said. "It was as quick as that." An on-course ambulance immediately transported Mr Whitney to Narromine Hospital before being transferred to Dubbo Base Hospital where he is expected to remain temporarily. Mr Whitney's long-term partner, Tarah-Lee Davis, was reunited with the seasoned jockey yesterday after an anxious and emotional wait on where he would be sent for treatment. "They weren't sure whether they were going to send him to Sydney or to Dubbo so I wasn't able to come and see him until (yesterday) and that was particularly hard," she said. The difficulty of the lengthy wait was compounded with the initial fear of not knowing the extent of the damage to her partner, she said.