'The worst injury I've had' - Liam Keniry eyeing new year return after leg break

Flat jockey Liam Keniry is in the "home straight" as he recovers from a horrific leg break – an injury he dubbed by far the worst of his career.

Keniry was hurt at Ascot in July when he was preparing to ride the Clive Cox-trained Get It in a heritage handicap, only for the three-year-old to become unsettled and unseat the rider before the race.

"I had surgery three weeks ago to get some metalwork removed and that all went well," said the 39-year-old, whose recovery is being aided by the facilities at Oaksey House rehabilitation centre for jockeys in Lambourn.

"I'm kicking on at Oaksey, trying to get back to full fitness and hopefully in the new year I'll be ready to press on.

"It was a complicated injury – my tibia, fibula and ankle – and it wasn't straightforward. I had to get a lot of metal put in and without a doubt it's the worst injury I've had.

"I can walk now, but can't run. Oaksey House has been very good though and I'm going there most days. They've got all the equipment so I'm definitely in the home straight, so to speak."

A senior figure in the weighing room, Keniry, who lives in Hungerford, has ridden more than 1,000 winners overall and was closing in on that total in Britain alone when his injury left him on 998.

"Things could have been worse," Keniry added. "It's part of the job. Being a jockey, when it happens you just accept it.

"It happened at a bad time, in the middle of the season – July, which wasn't great timing given how busy things are then, but hopefully it's not too long now."

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