McCoy’s Festival hopes rise after surgery
The 12-times champion damaged a vertebrae after he parted company with Arnold Layne in the totesport.com Classic Chase at Warwick on Saturday, prompting fears he could miss the Festival in March.
Initial prognosis from doctors at the University Hospital Walsgrave in Coventry was reasonably positive in that he could be back in around six weeks.
However, McCoy was transferred to the Nuffield Hospital in Oxford yesterday, where further assessment from two pre-eminent spinal specialists prompted the rider’s operation.
“He had an MRI scan under the care of the two specialists I mentioned yesterday, James Wilson-McDonald and Jeremy Fairbank,” confirmed McCoy’s personal assistant Gee Bradburne.
“The scan suggested there was a small piece of loose bone off the vertebrae. That can be fixed with a small operation and he is having the surgery now.
“It should speed up recovery and guarantee him to be fit for Cheltenham.
“The doctors are confident he will be fit for the Festival. The operation just stabilises the loose bone.
“He will be in hospital for a couple of days – we don’t know exactly how long yet – and then you just have to encourage movement.”
With 132 winners already on the board this season, McCoy is 55 clear of his nearest pursuer, Graham Lee, in the race for the riders’ title.
