Apprentice jockey Jordan Childs is expected to be back riding sooner than expected after doctors ruled out surgery on his two fractured wrist he suffered in a horror fall at Hamilton on Monday.
It was initially thought that Childs would have to undergo surgery but X-rays indicated that the wrists could be manipulated back into place with a general anaesthetic.
“Jordan will have a cast on both wrists,” Jordan’s father former topline jockey Greg Childs said.
“When the specialist looked at the X-ray, he said it is not too bad and he won’t need an operation.
“The specialist said it should heal very quickly and he should be back in the saddle early, mid-January.
“It’s good news. It’s a fracture, but it hasn’t been displaced.”
But Senior jockey Peter Mertens is looking to be sidelined indefinitely as he recovers from several serious injuries he suffered in the same incident on the home turn.
Mertens suffered a broken collarbone, ribs and ankle, a punctured lung plus a knee injury when his mount Leconi broke a leg and came down in front of Childs on Wantara in the seventh race on the card.
Stewards reported that Leconi and Wantara both sustained severe leg injuries resulting from the fall and both horses were subsequently humanely euthanized.