Top jockey Tom Marquand is facing up to eight weeks out of action after undergoing shoulder surgery in Australia after a sickening fall on Saturday.
He will fly home later this month to recuperate alongside jockey wife Hollie Doyle who he has revealed is due to have an operation next week to address issues with the elbow she fractured in a race last month.
Marquand was lucky to escape a more serious injury when his mount Dorothy Gail met serious interference in the £1.1 million Inglis Millennium. Dorothy Gail sustained a knee fracture while jockey Josh Parr received a 20-meeting riding ban for his part in the incident.
Marquand suffered a concussion and a subsequent MRI scan on his shoulder revealed he had sustained a posterior dislocation of his sternoclavicular joint.
“It's basically dislocated backwards so I have to go for an operation today (Wednesday) to get it wired back in,” Marquand explained in an update posted to Instagram.
“I will probably spend a week here now in Australia just because I can’t fly straight after having an operation.
“Then the plan will be to come back to England and go through my rehab there and hope that I can get back in action by the time the last couple of days of The Championships are on and all being well, head back down to Sydney.”
Doyle hasn’t ridden since January when she broke her left elbow in a heavy fall at Wolverhampton when her mount suffered a fatal injury during the race. She now needs surgery herself.
Marquand said: “Hollie is having a bit of a shocker as well, off with her elbow and she is going under the knife early next week.
“I might just miss her for the operation. We will be in rehab and recuperation together and be a right pair so at least we’ve got two arms between us.
“It’s obviously not ideal what’s going on, but I think we can both count ourselves pretty lucky in the circumstances and the fact that we are just missing an arm each rather than anything too sinister.
