Foley misses festival

Marcus Foley will miss the Cheltenham Festival after breaking his arm in a fall at Ascot yesterday.

The rider, who is attached to the Nicky Henderson yard, suffered the injury in a fall from Henderson's Regal Exit in the Amlin Plus Handicap Chase at the Berkshire track.

Foley was sent for a precautionary x-ray and he confirmed: “I’ve got a clean break through my left forearm and it’s going to be a six-week job I would say.

“I didn’t think it was broken, I thought it was just bruised. On the way to the hospital I could move my arm and feel everything but it showed up on x-ray and they put a cast on immediately.”

Foley is the third rider in the Henderson yard to suffer an injury in recent weeks.

Stable jockey Mick Fitzgerald is currently sidelined with a broken arm sustained in a fall at Sandown on February 7 while conditional rider Andrew Tinkler broke his collarbone in a schooling fall last week.

Both Fitzgerald and Tinkler are confident of being back in time for Cheltenham but with the start of the meeting now just over three weeks away, Foley is understandably upset to be missing out.

“I’m really very disappointed, more so because at the moment there’s three of us out, Mick, Andrew and me – the boss must be tearing his hair out,” he added.