Four days into his comeback and five days before the Cheltenham Festival, Ruby Walsh is still without a winner and now has the added anxiety of a fresh injury.
Walsh took a heavy fall in a hurdles race at Naas yesterday and, ironically, had Paul Townend, his deputy at the Willie Mullins stable, land on top of him. Ambulance men attended before Walsh got to his feet nursing a cut below his left eye and he was stood down for the rest of the day.
After four months on the sidelines with a broken leg, Walsh needs the confidence of winners before his enviable book of Festival rides, due to be clarified when Mullins and Paul Nicholls finalise their jockey arrangements before the weekend.
If recovered, Walsh takes one mount at Clonmel today for his father, Ted, who reported last night: “He’s just got a cut, nothing serious.”
Tony McCoy, a great friend of Walsh, is closing in on 200 winners for the first time in six years. A double at Fontwell Park yesterday took him to 198.
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McCoy rides Binocular, the favourite, in the Stan James Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, from which there were no surprise defectors yesterday. One of the smallest fields in recent times is assured with only 13 left in the race.
Fergal Lynch will not be allowed to resume his riding career after having his licence application rejected by the British Horseracing Authority yesterday. Lynch, who has previously admitted stopping a horse and associating with the disqualified Miles Rodgers, was refused under the “fit and proper person” rule.