'It was horrendous' - Lorcan Murtagh eyeing summer return after breaking leg

Lorcan Murtagh, whose leg was smashed to bits when he suffered a "horrendous" injury at Kelso in January, hopes to resume riding out at the end of May.

Murtagh, who is attached to Harry Fry's Dorset yard, was riding Nakadam - trained by his father Barry - in a handicap chase when the 12-year-old fell and brought down Prince Dundee, who landed on the jockey.

The conditional, who was at Newbury on Saturday walking with a crutch, said: "I'm waiting to get a screw out of my knee. When they put it in, it's sticking out a bit too much, so I need to get that out.

"That will set me back a couple of weeks, so then we'll see, but it's annoying I can't actually say when I'll be back. The operation will be in the next couple of weeks and then it's just how it heals after that.

"I broke my femur in five places."

Harry Fry: trainer pleased to see Murtagh's progressCredit: Edward Whitaker( racingpost.com/photos)

Asked if it was as bad as it sounds, Murtagh added: "It was, yeah - horrendous. It was very sore and I wasn't knocked out so I knew it was broken straight away. I've broken a few bones in my time, but it was definitely the worst break I've ever had, and I'm not good as a patient at all, although I accepted fairly early that I would be off for a while. As long as it's back healthy when I return that's the main thing and it should be fine long term – I'm just not rushing it back."

The 23-year-old, who won the Eider Chase on Rocking Blues in 2016, was having a productive season until his setback and one of his rides for Fry included a box-seat view of star novice Constitution Hill, whom he was behind on Might I at Sandown in December.

Lorcan Murtagh and Might I (left) were no match for Constitution Hill at SandownCredit: Edward Whitaker

Murtagh knows all about the ups and downs of being a jockey as does his year-younger brother Connor, who rides on the Flat and underwent open-heart surgery in his youth.

He went on: "I've been doing some rehab in Jack Berry House. I couldn't drive to begin with so Connor, who lives in Malton, was taking me there and I was staying with him.

"I can drive now and have come down to Harry's for the weekend. I hope to be back riding out by the end of May, but it depends how this next operation goes and everything after.

"Things were going very well and Harry was very good to me, along with the other trainers who had supported me. We're going the right way, it's just going to be a slow process."

Fry, on the mark at Newbury with Bermeo in the veterans' chase, said: "We had a party on Thursday night to celebrate Love Envoi's Cheltenham win and Lorcan came down for that. He came in this morning and I asked if he was coming racing and he said he wasn't. I said, 'What are you going to do otherwise?' It's good to see him making progress."

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