With Cheltenham looming ever larger, Graham Lee suffered the fate every jockey dreads yesterday. A heavy fall in a novice chase at Huntingdon, several minutes unconscious and then the discovery of a jaw broken in two places. Like Tony McCoy, his place at the Festival is in serious doubt.
While McCoy's recovery from a broken vertebrae is at least well under way, time is cruelly short for Lee, his closest challenger in the jockeys' championship. Lee already knows he will miss the preparatory races on his key Cheltenham rides and his presence at the biggest meeting of any year hangs in the balance.
Lee, who has already equalled his 2007 total of 89 winners, was pitched into the ground by Cash King, then kicked by a following horse. An air ambulance was called and the next race delayed for half an our, although the jockey was eventually taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital by road.
Last night, Ferdy Murphy, his retaining trainer, said: “It's bad luck on Graham and a blow for all of us. He was out for a while and he got a kick in the chest but it's the jaw that is a worry. It took Robert Winston a long time to get back from similar injuries and I just hope Graham's is a clean break. If it's not, he's going to miss Cheltenham.”
Murphy has already replaced Lee on his runners at Newbury tomorrow. Timmy Murphy rides L'Antartique in the Game Spirit Chase and Sam Thomas takes the mount on Dancer's Serenade in the totesport Trophy.
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Obstacles have also littered the path to Cheltenham for another northern trainer, Nicky Richards. Relentless rain over Cumbria has hampered his patient preparations and a debilitating bout of ringworm in the stable has added to the problems. As ever, there have been injuries, such as that which yesterday forced Money Trix out of the Royal & SunAlliance Chase.
Money Trix was among the ante-post favourites after returning from a prolonged absence to score serenely at Newcastle last month. “He came back fine but after a couple of canters he developed a little problem,” Richards said. “I'm not sure how long it will keep him out but he won't go to Cheltenham, that's for sure.”
Ironically, if Richards is finally to enjoy a first Festival winner, it could come not from such traditional staying chasers, on which his Greystoke yard is founded, but from a two-mile hurdler off the Flat. In such a frustrating winter, Palomar has been a beacon of hope. Sporting the familiar silks of Sir Robert Ogden, he has won his last three races with growing authority and is second-favourite for the totesport Trophy.
Richards is keenly aware of the shortage of credible British contenders for the Champion Hurdle and sees Palomar as a potential outsider. “He's not been entered yet,” he said. “I suggested it to Barry Simpson (Ogden's racing manager) and he said that if he skates up on Saturday, there'll be plenty of money to supplement him.
“He's gone up 22lb since his last win at Kempton and that would be a concern. But he's done nothing but improve and he's looking bigger and stronger all the time. He was a high-class Flat horse but what pleases me is that his mind has come together now.”