Frustration for Conor O'Farrell as jockey sidelined with dislocated shoulder

Cheltenham Festival-winning rider Conor O’Farrell is set for a spell on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder in a fall at Market Rasen on Sunday.

The 33-year-old jockey was riding 50-1 shot A Cheap Thrill, who fell at the fifth fence in the 2m1f novice handicap chase on his first start for trainer Micky Hammond.

“They thought it was fractured and it wasn’t until I went and got the scans that they were like, ‘it’s actually dislocated’, O’Farrell said on Tuesday. “It got put back in then under general anaesthetic.

“I got some more x-rays to see if it was back in properly. It was and I was let go last night. I’m just aching all over.”

O’Farrell has ridden at least 30 winners in Britain for the last four seasons and, asked if he would be back in time for the core jumps season, he said: “I’d like to think so. 

“I’m going to have to wait and see the specialist, which will be probably a week or ten days from now. When things settle down they’ll be able to give me a better idea.

“I don’t know whether there’s any nerve damage or whether it’s going to be straightforward. Hopefully, it’ll be a simple case of five or six weeks and then back in action.”

O’Farrell, who in 2011 won the Pertemps Final on Buena Vista, Midlands National on Minella Four Star, and Summer Plate on Qulinton when based with David Pipe, has continued his success since relocating further north, most notably when landing the Grade 2 Rendlesham Hurdle on Nick Alexander’s Wakool in February.

“I was happy with the way things are going,” said O’Farrell, who has partnered nine winners so far this term. “I had a winner of a Grade 2 last season and it’s probably one of the best starts to a season I’ve had this year. 

“It’s unfortunate to be put out of action for six weeks with an injury, but it is what it is. I’ll just have to get on with it and hopefully that’s all it’ll be and not any longer.”

O’Farrell’s agent Wilson Renwick also looks after Emma Smith-Chaston, who broke her collarbone when another Hammond-trained horse, The Very Thing, was fatally injured in a fall at Market Rasen on May 22. The conditional has been recuperating at Jack Berry House in Malton with no return date set. 

“It’s got complications because she’s got metal in there, so it’s going to be slightly longer,” said Renwick. “We’ve got no certain date yet, it’s just rehab at Jack Berry at the moment.”

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