Wayne Lordan unlikely to return to race-riding until the autumn

Jockey Wayne Lordan is in “good spirits” but may not return to race-riding until the autumn following his grim fall in the Irish Derby earlier this month.

The Classic-winning rider was on board San Antonio when the Aidan O’Brien-trained colt suffered a catastrophic leg injury half a mile from home in the Curragh feature ultimately won by Auguste Rodin.

San Antonio had to be euthanised after the spill which left Lordan concussed but also with a deep wound to an arm that will require time to heal.

“Wayne got home the other day. He’s still sore but is in good spirits. He got a bad flesh wound in an awkward area and a period of recuperation will be required,” said his agent Ryan McElligott on Sunday.

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Lordan had appeared to be increasingly riding as No 2 rider for O’Brien this season and had partnered 16 winners in Ireland up to the Curragh incident.

He had also won the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot on the Ballydoyle second-string Age Of Kings.

Lordan’s absence comes at the height of the Group One summer season which will continue this Saturday with the €500,000 Juddmonte Irish Oaks.

The Ballydoyle team is likely to be represented in strength at the Curragh with Savethelastdance, runner-up to Soul Sister at Epsom when an odds-on favourite, among the potential starters.

Warm Heart, winner of the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, is another in the mix ahead of Tuesday’s confirmation stage.

Auguste Rodin tops betting lists for the following weekend’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot where his opposition is set to include the older star Hukum, who had to miss Ascot’s Hardwicke due to quick ground conditions.

“We’d like to see some rain, of course, we’d never want to go on rattling quick. It was frustrating to miss the Hardwicke with him, but the King George is the big one for him,” said Hukum’s trainer Owen Burrows.

“The King George has always been about the clash of the generations and this year that looks especially the case. We’ll see what turns up, but it looks like this year it is going to be a proper race.

“We were really pleased with him at Sandown, we’ve been happy with how he’s been since, so we’re really looking forward to running him.,” he added.

Killarney’s four-day July festival gets under way on Monday with a juvenile maiden that has a pedigree of throwing up high-class horses.

In 2018 the ill-fated subsequent Epsom Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck broke his career duck in the mile event.

Donnacha O’Brien rode Anthony Van Dyck on that occasion and has saddled the last two winners, including Piz Badile in 2021, who progressed to chase home Westover in last year’s Irish Derby.

This time he brings Bremen, a brother to Warm Heart, who belied a marked drift in the betting on his recent Tipperary debut with a fine second to Spanish Flame in a conditions event.

O’Brien faces family opposition with his brother Joseph sending the well-bred Aonzo to make his debut while the Ballydoyle hope is Navy Seal, a brother to the French Oaks runner-up Never Ending Story.

The experience gained from that Tipperary effort though should stand Bremen in good stead now.