Jockey run over by ambulance hopes to be back in the saddle in 6-8 weeks

"Things are going well. I had the operation and it's just a case of recovery now."

Tue, 19 Jul, 2016 - 15:42

Chris Meehan, the jockey who hit the headlines after being run over by an ambulance, hopes to return to competitive action within the next two months.

The 22-year-old conditional rider from County Down suffered a nasty fall at Merano racecourse in Italy at the start of the month, getting a kick to the face that knocked him unconscious and causing him to need 27 stitches to a gash along his jaw.

However, those injuries paled into insignificance within minutes as the ambulance that arrived on the scene to treat him

Meehan - whose father has worked in the ambulance service in Northern Ireland for 30 years - returned to Ireland for surgery on his broken leg and facial injuries and is now continuing his recovery at home.

He said: "Things are going well. I had the operation and it's just a case of recovery now.

"It will be another six weeks, I'd say, and probably two months until I'm race-riding again."

Meehan, who had been based with Jonathan Geake in Wiltshire, appears unlikely to return to Italy this autumn.

He is hoping to make the most of his British-based contacts when he does come back.

He said: "The season in Merano ends in October, so whether I would be able to get back in time I'm not sure."