Katie Walsh cleared by course doctor for Grand National ride

Irish jockey ready for Aintree ride: ‘I’m fit, ready to go and really looking forward to it’

Katie Walsh is unseated from Distime during the  Randox Health Foxhunters Chase. Photograph: Reuters
Katie Walsh is unseated from Distime during the Randox Health Foxhunters Chase. Photograph: Reuters

Katie Walsh has passed the course doctor so she can ride Wonderful Charm in the Randox Health Grand National at Aintree.

Walsh, third in the 2012 National on Seabass, was unseated from Distime in the Foxhunters’ Chase on Thursday but has now proved her fitness in time for the big race.

She said: “I’m fit and ready to go and really looking forward to it.”

Walsh — who finished third in the 2012 National on Seabass — was unseated at The Chair, the third fence in the race run over the National course, and appeared to be kicked by another horse as she lay on the ground.

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She was stretchered from the course into an ambulance and taken to hospital for further assessment.

She underwent two X-rays and a scan, which showed she had a badly bruised arm rather than a broken one, which had initially been reported.