Cox Plate winning jockey Chad Schofield will be out of action for at least six weeks following a fall at Geelong on Sunday.
Cox Plate winning jockey Chad Schofield will be out of the saddle for at least six weeks following a fall at Geelong. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
The young jockey has suffered injuries to both arms and received minor fractures to his T7 and T8 vertabrae and will undergo further scans on his back this morning but is expected to be discharged from hospital today.
Victorian Jockeys Association president Des O’Keeffe said that Schofield was sitting up in bed and looks like escaping any back surgery.
“The scans revealed two fractures that can be safely described as minor to his T7 and T8 vertebrae but he’s sitting up in hospital, is able to move and there is no surgery needed,” O’Keeffe told Racing.com.
“Preliminary predictions are he is expected to miss around six weeks and he’ll have some x-rays and scans when he feels he is nearing a return.”
Schofield’s father and rival jockey Glyn Schofield tweeted this morning that MRI scans today would be to determine if there was any soft tissue damage as well as the fractures.
“Chad Schofield having an MRI this morning to determine any soft tissue damage to his back. Hopefully he’ll be discharged today,” Glyn Schofield tweeted.
Schofield’s mount Classic Charm clipped the heels of another runner at the 900m in the $15,000 Briseis Cup (1325m) and the fall capped off a horror year for the young hoop.
The twenty year old was out of the saddle for two months after fracturing his C3 vertabra in a fall at Cranbourne on June 8 and has also spent a long time on the sidelines because of numerous suspensions.
“The neck fracture he sustained in June hasn’t been destabilised by Sunday’s incident,” O’Keefe said.
“It was in a different part of the back and he’s not required to be in a brace which indicates the doctors at Geelong Hospital are considering the fractures as fairly minor.”
Schofield was suspended for thirty-two meetings after the stewards charged him with improper riding on the Moody trained Saguaro in the W&P Truck Sales BenchMark 78 Handicap at Mornington in September.
That suspension was on the top of a twenty-seven meeting suspension for careless riding he has served prior and he was due to start another twelve meeting careless riding suspension today after falling foul of stewards at Moonee Valley last Friday again for careless rising.
Schofield won the 2013 Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley then continued his rise up through the jockey’s ranks and collected his second Group 1 trophy when he guided super sprinter Lankan Rupee to a sensational win in the Group 1 $1m Lexus Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 8.
Then he added the Group 1 Champagne Stakes at Randwick on April 26 to his resume after scoring on the Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas trained Go Indy Go before heading to Brisbane for the Winter Carnival where he took out the Group 1 $500,000 Channel Seven Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm on June 7 on Sonntag for Caulfield trainer Henry Dwyer.
