By Glenn Davis
Leading apprentice Jackson Murphy faces possible surgery on his injured hand and could be sidelined for up to two months following his fall at Doomben last Saturday.
Murphy was thrown from the Toby Edmonds-trained Granny Red Shoes near the 650 metre in the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate.
He was cleared of any serious injury but spent the night in Royal Brisbane hospital as a precaution.
X-rays revealed no breaks in Murphy’s right hand but his master Chris Anderson said he had ligament problems with his right thumb.
“Jackson has to have further scans but he’s got some ligament damage and there’s a possibility he’s got some bone fragments,” Anderson said.
“He may yet need surgery and we expect him to be out of the saddle for between six to eight weeks.
“It’s very disappointing as he had a heap of rides at Beaudesert on Tuesday and five rides at Doomben on Wednesday.
“As well he had four or five rides marked down for Magic Millions day including Toby Edmonds’ Cadogan.
“It’s disappointing he’ll be sidelined for a while but he’s very lucky as it was a nasty fall.”
Murphy’s absence has forced Anderson to engage Michael Murphy for Boom Boom Epic in the Benchmark 75 Handicap and Jag Guthmann-Chester for Connoisseur in the Class Three Plate at Doomben on Wednesday.
Boom Boom Epic was a last start second to Le Juge in a 1660-metre Class Three at Doomben on December 19 while Connoisseur won a Class 2 in his stable debut on the same day.
“I think both of them have great chances,” Anderson said.
“I’m putting blinkers on Boom Boom Epic in the hope of getting some more tactical speed.
“If it doesn’t work, we might step him up to 2000 metres.
“Connoisseur is an ex Godolphin who won his first start for us.
“He gets in well in the set weights race and carries less weight than what he won with last start.”
Racing Queensland webnews December 31