Condon gets go-ahead for mid-December return

Cheltenham Festival-winning rider Davy Condon, who fractured three vertebrae in the middle of his back in a fall at Cork in August, has been given the green light to return to the saddle from the middle of this month.

Condon (pictured), who won the Fred Winter on Flaxen Flare at Cheltenham last year, was hurt when the horse fell in a two-mile hurdle at Cork in August and had been expected to sit out the rest of 2014, but was given the go-ahead to return in mid-December.

The news will be a huge relief to the jockey, who was fitted with a brace following the injury.