Injured Fitzgerald out for a month

Jockey Mick Fitzgerald faces a race against time to be fit for the Cheltenham Festival after sustaining a broken arm in a fall at Sandown yesterday.

Fitzgerald parted company with See You Sometime in the Grade One Tote Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase and he is now looking at a month on the sidelines.

He told attheraces: “I have got a fracture on my left forearm, it’s as straightforward as straightforward can be. I went to see Mike Foy (orthopaedic surgeon) yesterday, they took some X-rays and he basically told me that it is cracked and it’s going to be four weeks.

“There’s no displacement, they haven’t even put a cast on it. Mike Foy just said to keep it immobilised and keep the movement in the fingers to keep the blood circulation going, then hopefully it should be OK.

“I’m going back to him on Monday week to have it X-rayed and check that everything is going according to plan,” he added.

See You Sometime was right in the front rank when coming to grief at eighth fence as Fitzgerald explained: “I was travelling OK, just starting to squeeze a little bit and he’s just gone in deep and didn’t get his front end up quick enough and down he went. Tikram just trying to avoid my horse hit me head on.”

The Festival kicks off on March 16 giving Fitzgerald around five weeks to return but he wants to make a full recovery if he is to ride at Cheltenham.

“You don’t want to go into the Festival on the back of not having ridden so I will have to make sure I am 100 per cent as there’s a lot at stake. I wouldn’t go there even at 90 per cent as I wouldn’t want to let down Nicky Henderson or any of the other trainers,” he explained.

“If I’m not 100 per cent, I won’t be at Cheltenham.”