Geraghty sets sights on Galway return

On his At The Races blog, Drumree jockey Barry Geragthy said that he hopes to be back in the saddle for  the  Galway Festival at the end of July.

He said "Many thanks for all the messages and best wishes since my fall on Friday. Thankfully, I’m back on home soil after JP kindly arranged to fly me home and I’m currently in Tallaght University Hospital. It’s great to be back close to home. Paula and the kids were able to come in last night, which was lovely as I hadn’t seen them all week.

The current situation is that I will undergo surgery tomorrow (Monday) to repair my broken tibia and fibula. The plan is for the repaired bones to be secured with an external frame. This is considered a better option for me as putting an internal plate on the shin bone could cause aggravation when I go back riding. The external frame will be on for 12 weeks and I’ll be able to put partial weight on it after three or four weeks, which improves the healing process.

If all goes to plan and the breaks heal as they should, I would hope to be back race riding in time for the Galway Festival at the end of July.

I got to watch the Grand National, but I was in the waiting room in the hospital, so I only got to see it once! It was a great race to watch and I thought Anibale Fly ran a creditable race. He just seemed on the back foot from a fair way out and ran well considering that.

What Tiger Roll did was something else. Winning two Grand Nationals is some achievement. A horse needs so much to come together to win just one Grand National and the likelihood of everything aligning well enough to win another one is just very unlikely, which is why it has taken so long for it to happen. He is a wonderful horse and I was delighted for everyone involved. It was also great to see Magic Of Light run so well for Jessie (Harrington) considering it was her first runner in the race.

Looking a bit further back, Buveur D’Air ran well in the Aintree Hurdle, but was ultimately beaten fair and square by Supasundae. We went a good gallop and while he lost some momentum when he had to swerve around Melon falling three out, I was happy with him all the way, but the winner was too strong for him on the day.

It was disappointing to be beaten and maybe he’s just not quite the horse he was. That’s twice he’s been beaten without big excuses this season. He’s been a very good horse for everyone and hopefully there will still be more good days ahead for him.

Earlier on that card I had finished third in the Merseyrail Handicap Hurdle on Canardier. Dermot McLoughlin had him in great shape and he travelled really well, but just couldn’t quicken on the ground up the run-in. That is two good runs in strong handicap company in a row from him and I think he’s a horse that can progress again.

While it was a sickener to miss out on riding him, I was delighted to see Champ bounce back to win the Doom Bar Sefton Novices’ Hurdle on Friday. Three miles was no problem for him and it was a performance that would have you really excited about seeing him over a fence. He’s one to really look forward to."