Conditional jockey Lorcan Murtagh suffers broken leg in nasty fall at Kelso

Conditional jockey Lorcan Murtagh is facing at least two months on the sidelines after breaking his leg in a nasty fall at Kelso on Sunday.

Riding Nakadam for his father Barry, the 3lb claimer suffered the injury when Prince Dundee, who was brought down by the fall, landed on top of him.

The 23-year-old, who is based with Harry Fry, was taken to Borders General Hospital near Melrose where he is due to have an operation on Monday.

"He's broken his right femur just below his hip and he's going to get it pinned this morning and will probably be out for between eight and ten weeks," said Murtagh's mother Sue.

"The way he was lying after the fall from our horse, his right leg was on the floor underneath the other horse's backside."

In October, fellow jockey Josh Moore waited more than a week in hospital for surgery on a spinal injury, but the care Murtagh has received has been much quicker.

"The hospital has been absolutely amazing," added Sue Murtagh. "I know they've been inundated with Covid, but the treatment has been second to none. As I was driving up there yesterday, I was worrying about how long it was going to take with the situation we're in, but they said they'll have it operated on in the morning."

Nakadam was leading the field when coming to grief at the third-last in a conditional jockeys' handicap chase on what proved to be a frustrating day for the Murtaghs after fellow 12-year-old Baraboy got within a neck of an 11th career victory in the 2m handicap hurdle.

"It was unfortunate to happen on him [Nakadam] as he was up for it yesterday and going so well when he just over-jumped and came down," said Murtagh.

"It was one of those days as Baraboy was just touched off earlier. We claimed him as a two-year-old and Lorcan has been riding him for ten years. He's won a fair few races, but never with Lorcan on."

Lorcan Murtagh moved south to Fry's Dorset stable in 2020 and has ridden ten winners this season, with his best campaign in 2017-18 yielding 19 victories.

"Harry has given him a real go, they're very good to him and he loves it down there," said Murtagh, whose younger son Connor rides on the Flat.

"The injury is just one of those things that's unfortunately part and parcel of the job. We've been there before and it could have been worse."

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