Cheltenham D-Day for Kennedy!

Horses for Courses

Jockey Jack Kennedy, side-lined with a broken leg since early January, hopes to get the all clear to ride at Cheltenham tomorrow, Friday. Following Kennedy’s injury, Davy Russell came out of retirement but has had only two rides after a heavy fall at Leopardstown earlier this month.

Whether one or both of the two leading riders will be in action for Gordon Elliott at Cheltenham remains to be seen. Elliott rates Kennedy’s chances of being available as “fifty-fifty”.

With less than two weeks left to the start of Cheltenham, two English riders were injured in falls last week. Yesterday week, Tom O’Brien dislocated his shoulder in a fall at Ludlow and this day week at Huntington, James Bowen broke his arm when unseated, and both will miss the festival.

On the whip front, Conor O’Farrell and Sam Twiston-Davis are among the nine riders suspended at the second sessions of the whip review committee on Tuesday. Both were suspended for four days starting on the 18th March, one day after the festival ends. The committee sits again tomorrow (Frday) when they will consider three further offences.