Top jockey Jack Kennedy hasn't ruled out returning to action by Christmas after being found to have dislocated his shoulder in a fall at Navan on Sunday.

Initial fears that the Cheltenham Gold Cup winning rider may have broken his arm in a spill from the ill-fated Wide Reciever in a Beginners Chase proved unfounded after x-rays were taken at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.

“He has dislocated his shoulder. It isn’t a broken arm as Jack feared at the time,” Kennedy’s agent, Kevin O’Ryan, said on Monday. “He is hopeful he might be back for the Christmas action.”

Kennedy has endured a torrid time with injuries over the last number of years.

In February of last year he missed seven months after breaking his leg in a fall in the very next race following victory in the Irish Gold Cup on Delta Work.

The 22-year-old star also suffered leg breaks in both 2017 and 2016.

He joins a lengthening list of top jump jockeys currently out of action due to injury.

Champion Paul Townend is still on the sidelines after dislocating a shoulder at the Listowel festival in September while top claimer Jordan Gainford faces up to six weeks out due to a broken wrist suffered at Naas on Saturday.

Another leading rider, Sean Flanagan, is hopeful of a return at Christmas after fracturing a vertebrae in a schooling all last week.

His principal employer, Noel Meade, has reported he expects Flanagan to be back in action in six weeks.

“He’s fractured a vertebrae and he thinks it will be six weeks before he can get back. He’s sore.

“It happened schooling, a horse turned over with him on Wednesday morning - the last fence he was jumping,” Meade said.