CAMBRIDGE, England -- Two top English jockeys escaped serious injury when their twin-engine plane nose-dived into the ground just after takeoff and they climbed through the rear of the burning wreck.

	Jockey Frankie Dettori following his victory in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Turf aboard Daylami.

Frankie Dettori, 29, Britain's best-known jockey, was expected to have surgery Friday for a broken right ankle. The other jockey, Ray Cochrane, 42, had minor burns to his face and head and severe bruising.

Agent Peter Burrell spoke with the two jockeys at their Cambridge hospital.

"Frankie said he shouted at Ray as the plane went down: 'We're dead, mate. This is it. We're gone,'" Burrell recounted.

Cochrane helped Dettori out of the plane and then tried unsuccessfully to rescue the pilot.

"Ray is just very, very sore and has heat burns to his face," Burrell said. "He has asked me to tell you that he is very happy to be here and not in a box."

"They are both fairly emotional as far as the pilot is concerned, which is understandable considering what they have been through," Burrell added. "They are lucky to be there. Five seconds more and they would probably have burned to death."

"It would certainly seem to be a miracle that anyone got out of the crash alive," said Steve Brown, an inspector with the local Suffolk police.

Burrell said Dettori's ankle would take about six weeks to heal and the jockey would be out for another month.

Both jockeys praised the pilot, who kept the plane airborne long enough to avoid a huge ditch.

"Patrick, the pilot, did a fantastic job and we are sure that if the plane had hit the dike we would have been killed for sure," they said in a joint statement.

"We would like to express our sympathy to his family and say that we owe our lives to his skill and courage."

The crash is similar to one a month ago in Lyon, France, in which two pilots were killed but Formula One driver David Coulthard, his girlfriend and trainer, escaped virtually unscathed.

Dettori and Cochrane were en route to races elsewhere in England. They were flying out of the airstrip at Newmarket used routinely by top jockeys.

Dettori, famous for his flamboyant style and flying dismounts, made English racing history in 1996 when he won all seven races on the same day at Ascot.

Cochrane is veteran and well-respected jockey who has won the English Derby, England's No. 1 flat race. Dettori was preparing for the June 10 Derby at Epsom, a race he has yet to win.