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Top jockey rode winner of 1,000 Guineas four days after wife's breast cancer diagnosis

Carey-Ann Lordan, wife of key Ballydoyle jockey Wayne Lordan, said she was 'writing her own obituary' when told the outcome of a biopsy

[Wayne & Carey-Ann Lordan]

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Wayne & Carey-Ann Lordan(Image: careyannlordan/Instagram)

Top jockey Wayne Lordan rode the winner of the 1,000 Guineas just four days after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The rider, who is number two to Ryan Moore on Aidan OBriens Ballydoyle team, won the Epsom Derby for the first time last year and is enjoying another successful season in the saddle, not only winning the 1,000 Guineas on True Love but the Irish version and the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

Yet while Lordan has continued to fulfil his engagements for OBrien on the racetrack, his wife Carey-Ann has revealed she has been treated for breast cancer. Mother-of-two Carey-Ann, 41, opened up in a personal breast cancer story shared on her Instagram account.

Carey-Ann, who runs her own PR consultancy, found a lump in her breast while taking a shower last autumn and after visiting her GP was referred to the breast check clinic. She had a mammogram and was then called back for ultrasound and a biopsy, fearing there would be bad news.

I went out to the car and I bawled my eyes out, she said. I was writing my own obituary. Like I knew I was in trouble.

[Carey-Ann Lordan: runs her own PR agency]

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Carey-Ann Lordan: runs her own PR agency(Image: careyannlordan/Instagram)

She was told of the results on April 29, the week of the Guineas Festival at Newmarket at which her husband was set to be involved.

It's a very busy week for us. No sooner was my bottom on the chair, and they called me in. And within a couple of minutes, the surgeon, Seamus Murphy, told me that it was cancer, and I broke down."

I couldn't believe it, even though I kind of knew that I was in trouble; I didn't think I was in that much trouble. I was diagnosed very quickly, and it was like an out-of-body experience.

[Wayne Lordon on True Love after the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket]

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Wayne Lordon on True Love after the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket(Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

She continued: At this stage, only my husband and I knew the story, and he was very quiet. He spent about three days painting a fence. But anyway, each to their own how they handle things. Any of you who know, he's just the loveliest guy of all time, and unfortunately he couldn't fix this.

"That was Wednesday, I got my results and on the Saturday he went to England, and he rode the winner of the Guineas on a horse called True Love, and I think throughout all this story, there is little -I don't know - synchronicities that are just mad, and it kind of showed me he can compartmentalise, he can do the job, and that True Love will win on the end, you know, as long as we stick together, so that was pretty cool."

[Carey-Ann Lordan: shared the details on her Instagram account]

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Carey-Ann Lordan: shared the details on her Instagram account(Image: careyannlordan/Instagram)

Carey-Ann underwent a lumpectomy on the eve of the Derby meeting at Epsom.

I kind of made a pledge that once Id had my surgery I was going to come out of the closet per se and raise awareness as well as raise funds publicly, she said

I had my surgery on June 4 and as far as I was concerned once I woke up I was cancer free. The surgery went well. The tumour was 1.5cm of which the cancer was 1cm so we are talking really early, really small and I am really, really lucky.

Carey-Ann, who also had some pre-cancer cells removed, took up and completed a walking challenge to raise money for Breast Cancer Ireland. By the time she had reached the 150km target she had raised 16,800 euros.

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