Meade issues upbeat bulletin

Vets at the Troytown Hospital are happy with Harchibald’s progress following his operation on Sunday to remove a piece of birch from his leg.

Noel Meade’s stable star was anaesthetised when undergoing the operation after the seven-year-old was injured when finishing second to Brave Inca at Leopardstown last Thursday.

“The news is pretty good really and they seem very happy with him,” Meade told At The Races. “They have changed the dressing and were very happy with what they saw and the whole thing now is trying to keep infection away.

“The problem is to keep the infection away he is going to need an awful lot of antibiotics and this has a big downing effect on anything, whether it be man or beast.”

Expanding further on the injury, Meade continued: “A little piece of birch went up into the hind pastern and got itself lodged between two tendons.

“The tendons are very delicate and you would have to be worried that if infection gets in there it will weaken them.

“I don’t know yet if he is definitely out of the Champion Hurdle, we will have to play it day by day.

“We would hope he wouldn’t be but the fact he is going to get so many antibiotics is going to flatten him a bit.”