His mount did not survive

His mount did not survive. "Tony is a very brave young man," Chris Browne, Wincanton's racecourse doctor, said, "but it was plain to see that he was extremely uncomfortable."The recuperative powers of jump jockeys are the stuff of legend, not least when Cheltenham is less than seven weeks away, but the accepted convalescence period after such an injury is around two months, and McCoy's chance of clambering into a saddle on Champion Hurdle day - 11 March - must now be no better than even money. "I don't think he will be back very quickly," Dr Michael Turner, the Jockey Club's chief medical adviser, said last night. "You should never write them off, and we won't know the exact situation for a day or two, but I think you're likely to be looking at about eight weeks."Martin Pipe, who accompanied McCoy to hospital, was a little more optimistic "He will possibly be out for six weeks," the trainer said. "I'm hoping he will be back for Cheltenham."If the Festival is in the balance, the championship may be a different story, which is a measure of how throughly McCoy dominates the jumping game, despite having arrived in Britain barely three years ago. Before yesterday's mishap, McCoy had ridden 130 winners, more than twice as many as Adrian Maguire, his closest - if that is the word - pursuer with 63.Assuming that McCoy's injury does repair itself within the allotted two months, Maguire would need to ride around nine winners each week - which is nowhere near his current average - simply to catch up.

Even then, a fit McCoy would surely accelerate away once more, but if the champion has been idle on three of the most important days of the season, a second championship would offer only a measure of consolation.It was a bad day at the office for other riders too. The same dismal contest in which McCoy was injured - the runners had 146 outings but not a single win to their credit - left Simon Burrough with a broken collar- bone which will take three weeks to heal and Norman Williamson nursing a bruised elbow and shin which may sideline him today.The office in question for Fergal Lynch was the one in which the Jockey Club's Disciplinary Committee met to consider his ride on Mijas on 14 January. He was found guilty of causing interference there and banned for eight days, thereby triggering an automatic additional 14-day ban under the totting-up system. Five of the resulting 22 days will be deferred until 6 May."I was very disappointed with the outcome," Lynch said, and he can at least look forward to a visit to America during his enforced holiday. "It was the prize for winning the apprentice series at Pontefract and I had to take it before March, so now seems as good a time as any.". Couldnt Be Better came back to his best to become the second British raider to succeed in the past five years in the Thyestes Handicap Chase at Gowran Park yesterday. Trained at Lambourn by Charlie Brooks and ridden by Graham Bradley, Couldnt Be Better, 7-1, stayed on to catch Corymandel (40-1) and book a possible crack at either the Gold Cup at Cheltenham or the Grand National.

Bradley said: "The horse has never been as well this season and the ground was just soft enough for him to be fully effective. It was a brave performance to defy 12 stone." Brooks said: "The horse is in everywhere - Cheltenham, Liverpool, Haydock and Leopardstown. He will run wherever the ground is suitable, but I hope never again on good to firm going. I believed we had Couldnt Be Better back to his best, but you never know particularly with one which has a repeated bleeding problem."Danoli may still run in the the Gold Cup despite Sunday's fall at Leopardstown. He runs next in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown on 2 February The other Festival option for Danoli is the Arkle Trophy. His trainer, Tom Foley, has ruled out the Sun Alliance Chase.CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP (Cheltenham, Thursday, 13 March)Ladbrokes: 7-2 Imperial Call, 7-1 One Man, 7-1 Coome Hill, 10-1 Addington Boy, Dorans Pride, The Grey Monk, 12-1 Mr Mulligan 14-1 Jodami, 16-1 Banjo, 20-1 Unguided Missile, 25-1 Couldnt Be Better, Master Oats, Maamur, 33- 1 others.William Hill: 7-2 Imperial Call, 6-1 Coome Hill, One Man, 10-1 Addington Boy, Dorans Pride, The Grey Monk, 14-1 Mr Mulligan, 20-1 Banjo, Couldnt Be Better, Jodami, 25-1 Challenger Du Luc, Nahthen Lad, Unguided Missile, 33-1 others. Challenger Du Luc will duck a confrontation with One Man in the Pillar Chase at Cheltenham tomorrow and will instead tackle the Ladbroke Trophy on the same card The sponsor makes Challenger Du Luc a 9-4 chance Addington Boy heads the market at 6-4.

Plans for Avro Anson, the favourite for the weekend's other main betting race, the Great Yorkshire Chase, are still uncertain. Maurice Camacho, his trainer, will wait until today's deadline before deciding whether the gelding will run.. Roger Marley retired from the saddle at the age of 29 after riding at Huntingdon yesterday. He leaves the sport with an unusual record for a jump jockey - an unblemished medical log, having never broken a bone during a 12-year riding career.