Jockey Conner McCann suffers multiple injuries in horror fall at Kelso

Conditional jockey Conner McCann escaped a head injury in a horror fall at Kelso on Saturday but broke ribs and several vertebrae.

There was a long delay to racing as the 18-year-old was treated after a second-flight fall on the Lucinda Russell-trained Diamond State in the 2m5f handicap hurdle. He was assessed on course and taken to Borders General Hospital.

Russell said on Monday: "I’ve had an update from Conner’s mother, who said he has transferred to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He has two broken ribs, three fractures in his thoracic vertebra and a suspected fracture in his C6 vertebra, and a tiny fracture of his fibula but luckily no head injury.

"She said he is due an MRI scan to check his fractured vertebrae and we will know more about recovery then. Apparently his first words to his mother were, 'How's Diamond? Are you sure he's okay?'”

Russell reported Diamond State to be fine after the fall and added that McCann’s mother wanted to thank all those who had expressed concern for her son and wished him a speedy recovery.

McCann, who started out on the Flat, teamed up with Diamond State to win on his first ride over jumps at Musselburgh in November and has gained four wins from just 13 rides over jumps.

He only returned to action on Friday at Musselburgh having been out injured since January.

Read these next:

What's on this week: Scottish National set to provide perfect Aintree appetiser

'She has a good chance' - can Cup Of Coffee make the long journey worthwhile?

For all our exclusive free bet offers and must-have daily promotions click the free bets button or go to racingpost.com/freebets