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Ruby Aiming To Be Back For Punchestown

It was a nickname given to Clark Kent's alter ego, but Ruby Walsh must surely have earned the tit...



Ruby Aiming To Be Back For Pun...
Racing

Ruby Aiming To Be Back For Punchestown

It was a nickname given to Clark Kent's alter ego, but Ruby Walsh must surely have earned the title 'Man of Steel' at this stage?

The Kildare man expects to find out next week how long he will be on the sidelines for, after aggravating the broken leg injury which had kept him out of the saddle for the previous four months.

His latest fall at Cheltenham, which marks injury number 22 in the jockey's career medical records.

All you can say is 'ouch'. I can't sleep the night before a visit to the dentist never mind recuperating from the injuries he's had.

Here is 'just' a selection.

September 1999 Broken right collarbone Injured at Dundalk, he was back in three weeks at Listowel

March 2014 Broken right arm and dislocated shoulder Thrown from Abbyssial in first race on Gold Cup day.

August 2013 Soft-tissue injury to arm Fell at Roscommon.

April 2016 Fractured right wrist Ruled out of the Grand National after two falls at Aintree.

November 2017 Injury to right hand Bruised hand in fall at Down Royal.

September 2003 Fractured right hip Thrown off Calshill at Listowel.

How does he do it? 

It now seems he has "aggravated" his most recent leg injury but incredibly the champion jockey is expected to return in time for next month's Punchestown Festival.

It was initially feared that Walsh - who was helped to the ambulance by his father Ted after Al Boum Photo crumpled on landing at the second last fence of the RSA Chase - had suffered another leg break but reports late last night suggest that the damage may not be as severe as first thought.

Having just returned from four months on the sidelines after breaking his right tibia at Punchestown in November, the 38-year-old bounced back to ride a double on the opening day of the Festival but now has his leg in a cast as he awaits a medical consultation next week in Dublin to fully assess the damage. 

"My right leg is in a cast and the fall opened the fracture at the back," Walsh told Racing UK after being taken to Gloucester Royal Hospital for X-rays. "I won't know the full extent until Tuesday."

With a little under six weeks to go until Punchestown,Willie Mullins is confident of having the Festival's most successful jockey back in action at the Kildare venue by then.

"The information I have is that he has a stress fracture on the old break. He might need a cast for maybe three weeks or a month and then he could be back. Instead of being back for Galway, he could be back for Punchestown. That would be a fantastic result," the champion trainer said.

Some going.

Ruby. Some man for the one man.

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