RACING:RUBY WALSH will be out for at least two months as he recovers from a broken arm sustained from a fall in Saturday's Aintree Hurdle.

The leading jockey was taken to hospital after Celestial Halo crashed out, at which stage he was then kicked by Won In The Dark.

He missed riding Big Fella Thanks in the Grand National and returned home to Ireland that evening.

Walsh went to see his orthopaedic surgeon yesterday morning and his sister and agent Jennifer confirmed: “He went to see (surgeon) Bill Quinlan this morning. The arm is in plaster and he is going to be out for eight to 10 weeks.”

Meanwhile, Brian Harding has confirmed he has also broken his arm after a fall at Kelso on Sunday.

The popular northern-based jockey, winner of the 1998 Queen Mother Champion Chase aboard One Man, had been riding Primrose Time in the Bedmax Handicap Chase.

“I’m okay. I have been for an X-ray and I have broken my right arm,” said Harding.

“It’s in plaster but it is not an unstable fracture, so it could have been worse.”

Set for a slightly shorter spell on the sidelines is Paddy Flood, who broke his collarbone when Schindlers Hunt suffered a fatal fall in the John Smith’s Melling Chase at Aintree last Friday.

This caused Flood to miss the ride on Vic Venturi in the following day’s Grand National.

His agent, Ciarán O’Toole, said: “I haven’t heard of any further complications apart from the collarbone. It was just a shame for him, with Aintree and then Punchestown round the corner.

“Sometimes they can be back in three weeks, sometimes it takes a bit longer.”

Former Gold Cup winner Denman is likely to head to Punchestown after being ruled out of Saturday’s Coral Scottish Grand National.

This year’s Gold Cup runner-up was due to carry top weight in the Ayr feature, but drying conditions in Scotland have derailed his challenge.

The Paul Nicholls-trained chaser is instead poised to be rerouted to Ireland, where is he is being aimed at the Guinness Gold Cup on Wednesday week – as long as there is cut in the ground.

Joint-owner Paul Barber said: “It’s disappointing as it looked a very good opportunity for him. But all the weather charts said there was not a drop of rain forecast so it was pointless waiting around.

“Even if Ayr watered it would have been good to firm whatever happened, so Paul wanted to tell everyone what we were doing in advance. We should hopefully be okay at Punchestown as they tend to get a lot more rain over there.”

Barber also said Grand National hero Tony McCoy is likely to ride Denman in Ireland.

McCoy finished second on the 10-year-old gelding at Cheltenham in March and is set to deputise for the injured Ruby Walsh.

“All being well, Tony should be riding,” added Barber.

“It should hopefully be another good day for racing.”