Leading apprentice Billy Loughnane faces spell on sidelines with fractured thumb

 Rising star Billy Loughnane is facing a spell on the sidelines after fracturing his thumb at Nottingham on Friday. 

The 17-year-old jockey is expected to be absent for several weeks after picking up the injury in a stalls incident on the Ed Dunlop-trained Lucidity, who was subsequently withdrawn from the 1m½f handicap. 

Loughnane was stood down for his remaining two rides on Friday by racecourse medical officers and will seek further treatment at the start of next week to establish a clearer timeframe for recovery. 

"It's just one of those things that happens in racing sometimes," father and trainer Mark Loughnane said. "It was at the start on Ed Dunlop's runner – the horse came under the gate and Billy got his hand caught between the stalls and the horse.

"It's just a little fracture and he's going to see a hand specialist on Monday. Until then, we're not sure how long he's going to be out, but I'd say he probably won't be riding for a couple of weeks. It's the nature of the sport and it's good it's not broken, so we'll see how it goes."

Loughnane has enjoyed a flying start after racking up 85 wins since taking his first ride in October. His impressive run saw him ride out his 7lb claim in a flurry of 23 winners in January before shedding the 5lb claim two months later. 

He had been enjoying another strong month and rode a 359-1 treble at Chepstow on Thursday to draw comfortably clear in his bid for the apprentice jockeys' championship. Bookmakers made Loughnane odds-on favourite for the title, for which he has 30 winners – 13 ahead of last year's champion Benoit de la Sayette. 

Loughnane had been booked for three rides at Doncaster on Saturday evening and also had multiple bookings at Wolverhampton on Tuesday and Lingfield on Wednesday. 

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