An Oxford amateur jockey is fighting for his life in hospital after he was kicked in the head during a point-to-point race meeting.

Ben King, 19, of Library Farm, Garsington, was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, with a broken cheek, jaw and ribs after a freak accident at the Clifton-on-Dunsmore point-to-point in Warwickshire on Sunday.

Mr King was riding Ickford Okey for trainer Sue Harbour, based in Emmington, near Thame.

Mrs Harbour said he had a bruised brain stem and was now on a life support machine.

She said: "He jumped the open ditch, which was on a bend, lost his left stirrup and as my horse went to go round the bend he slipped and was thrown into the rails. The five horses behind then kicked him 12 feet." Mrs Harbour described Mr King as an up and coming jockey, who had come first on Ickford Okey at Larkhill, second at Stratford and sixth at Ascot this season.

Mr King, who is studying business and management at Oxford Brookes University, won his first race under National Hunt Rules, riding Garethson, jointly owned by his father and grandfather, to victory in the Hambleton Hills Hunters' Chase at Doncaster in February.

He was also runner-up in the men's under-20 race at this year's Oxfordshire Cross Country Championships.