Walsh faces two month injury layoff

Ruby Walsh will be sidelined for at least two months after breaking his arm in a crashing fall in the opening race on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival.

The rider was diagnosed with a compound fracture of his right humerus, the bone in the upper arm, after parting company with Abbyssial in the JCB Triumph Hurdle.

Walsh was leading the field over the second hurdle when taking a crunching spill, bringing down stablemate Adriana Des Mottes in the process. He was able to walk gingerly to the ambulance, but could be seen holding his arm, and he was taken to Gloucester Hospital, where he underwent surgery on Friday evening.

"He's in theatre this evening. He has a fractured humerus," said Dr Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer of the Irish Turf Club. "He will be out for two months plus, but I'm not sure of the full details yet."

Walsh's understudy at the Willie Mullins yard, Paul Townend, the rider of Adriana Des Mottes, rode in the second race but gave up after that as he was feeling too sore to carry on. That left David Casey to step in for the ride on the stable's On His Own and take second place in the big race of the week, the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Walsh nevertheless won the Boodles-sponsored award for leading jockey at the Festival meeting on the basis of countback after starting the day level on three winners with Barry Geraghty and Tom Scudamore. They could not compete with his placed score of three seconds.

Mullins clinched the leading trainer award, sponsored by the Irish Independent, when Don Poli gave him a fourth winner at the meeting in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle. He had begun the final day level with Jonjo O'Neill and David Pipe on the three-winner mark, posting the one success as his rivals drew blanks.

Mullins reflected that Quevega's record sixth success in the OLBG Mares' Hurdle on Tuesday was his high point.

He said: "Quevega was very special, to win the mares' race for the sixth time is a magnificent achievement. The two novices (Vautour and Faugheen) were hugely impressive, but she was the high point.

"Losing Ruby with a broken arm, then losing Paul Townend and getting nudged out of the Gold Cup were all low points. It's been a dramatic day going through three sets of jockeys."

Other jockeys in the wars included Mark Walsh, who had a nasty fall from Competitive Edge in the concluding Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase and went to hospital for X-rays.

"Mark Walsh had a heavy fall in the last race. He's gone to Cheltenham General for a chest X-ray," said Dr McGoldrick, who also reported that Bryan Cooper was having further surgery on his broken leg at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Cooper sustained what has been described as a "complex fracture" when he fell at the second-last flight aboard the Gordon Elliott-trained Clarcam in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham on Wednesday. He was operated on at Gloucester Hospital on Thursday but required further treatment in Bristol.

"Bryan Cooper is in theatre in Bristol and will not be out until late tonight. He's having a major operation," said Dr McGoldrick.