SEAN BOWEN is hoping injury doesn’t derail his bid to become champion jockey.
The Welshman, 26, hasn’t ridden since suffering a crunching fall at Aintree on Boxing Day.
PASean Bowen will be out of action for at least a couple of weeks[/caption]
He looked set to collect the Grade 1 Formby Hurdle aboard Gordon Elliott’s Farren Glory before the hot favourite came down two out.
His knee was banged up in the fall – though nothing was broken – and he has since been receiving specialist care from the Injured Jockeys’ Fund team of physios.
A few days after the fall he said he was hoping to return in the middle of January, but he has pushed the date of his return back by a week.
It could open the door for Harry Cobden – who is currently 29 winners behind in the title race – to make major inroads into Bowen’s lead.
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Bowen said: “I just twisted my knee and was pretty sore after the fall, it was a heavy one and it could have been worse.
“I’ve been going to Oaksey House over the last week or so doing physio, the IJF have been great, and I’ve been resting up at home.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, I’m aiming to be back in a fortnight, hopefully before the big Ascot meeting on January 20.”
However, the silver lining for Bowen is the timing – it’s flu jab season at Paul Nicholls’ yard and the champion trainer will have fewer runners than usual this month.
Nicholls’ stable jockey Cobden said: “You never want to benefit from other people’s injuries, but obviously you’d think it’s a good opportunity to close the gap with Sean not riding.
“But Paul gives them all flu jabs in January so it’s my quietest time of the year, so I probably won’t be able to make up as much ground as I’d like in the next three or four weeks.
“I’m not worrying about it at the moment, we will see where we are in February and give it a real go then.”
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