RACING:JOHNNY MURTAGH will be sidelined for about three weeks after suffering a facial injury in a nasty incident at the Curragh last weekend.
Murtagh sustained a hairline fracture to a small bone under an eye when kicked by his mount Lottie Dod in the preliminaries before the Group One Keeneland Phoenix Stakes.
Murtagh discovered he would miss next week’s Ebor Festival at York when he saw a specialist at James’s Street Hospital in Dublin yesterday morning. “I’ve spoken to Johnny and obviously he won’t be riding at York next week,” Murtagh’s agent Eddie Byrne said. “The situation will be reviewed in early September when he sees a specialist again in three weeks’ time. Johnny has to wait until the bone under his eye heals.”
Murtagh tweeted: “Not great news this morning. Looks like I will be out for a couple of weeks – might not miss too much with this wet weather!”
Saddler’s Rock and Electrolyser could renew rivalries in the Weatherbys Insurance Lonsdale Cup at York. The pair, who are trained by John Oxx and Clive Cox, filled first and fourth place respectively in the Goodwood Cup last time. Saddler’s Rock had previously finished a narrow third to Colour Vision in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and won the Doncaster Cup last term. Oxx believes his charge prefers quicker ground and would not want to see too much rain ahead of the Group Two heat.
Meanwhile, Aidan O’Brien’s Arlington team have arrived in Illinois for Saturday’s big meeting. Treasure Beach is set to tackle the feature Arlington Million, while Up is on course to contest the Beverly D Stakes. Daddy Long Legs completes the Ballydoyle team with an entry in the Secretariat Stakes.
