Barry Geraghty has admitted it’s a tough task for Jack Kennedy to return at the Cheltenham Festival, with just over two months to go until the four-day meeting.
The star Irish jockey took a horror fall on the ill-fated Top Bandit at Naas on Sunday, fracturing his lower leg in two places.
That leaves Kennedy – who has already endured several long-term injuries in his career to date – with a race against time to reach the blue-riband Cheltenham Festival, getting underway in just over two months’ time.
And with that in mind, former jockey Geraghty has admitted it could be a struggle for Kennedy to make it back in time for Cheltenham and added that the injury has dealt a major blow in his bid to become the leading Irish jockey this season.
“It was a tough one and it was tough on connections of Top Bandit as well,” Geraghty told the Off The Fence podcast. “The trouble with the tibia is that it’s a weight-bearing bone so it’ll take a little slower to heal and it’s just a case of you can’t put it under full pressure.
“It’s probably tight enough in time between now and The Festival but he has age on his side. Unfortunately for Jack, he knows more about these things than I do at this stage.
“He’s had a really tough time of it and was leading the championship, 18 clear of Paul Townend. He was teed up to possibly win a first championship so it’s a really tough blow for Jack.
“I hope he can make it back for The Festival because he’s a top-class rider and a great ambassador for the sport.”
At The Races pundit Tony Keenan also gave his view on that race won by Appreciate It, who remained unbeaten over the larger obstacles with an easy victory.
But despite the ease of success, Keenan felt that a step up in trip could unlock further progress as he makes the step into graded company.
“He was better than he was at Punchestown but you don’t really know because of what happened to his main market rival,” Keenan said.
“He’s the kind of horse that will take a bit of getting fit as he’s quite big, two miles at Naas on testing ground would suit him.
“I do suspect with him that he will be a bit better up in trip. The Supreme he won was on pretty deep ground and some of the races he won as a novice were on testing ground at Leopardstown.
“You do sense with Willie Mullins though that he will stay at the minimum trip until he gets beaten.
“He’s got a lot of options for the Irish Arkle with El Fabiolo and Dysart Dynamo. I don’t know if he’d want to run all three against each other at the Dublin Racing Festival.”
