Jockey Chris Meehan faces surgery and another lengthy spell on the sidelines after breaking his leg again in a trampoline accident.
The 22-year-old was on the comeback trail after a freak accident in Italy last summer in which he was run over by the ambulance that had come to treat him following a fall.
The Northern Irishman was knocked unconscious in the tumble at Merano racecourse but it was the subsequent incident that made the headlines, with the County Down man yet to ride in a competitive race since the accident.
He has been riding out in recent weeks with the hope of returning on the Flat but will now go under the surgeon’s knife after suffering an identical fracture during rehabilitation.
He said: “I was just doing a bit of circuit fitness work and landed on the wrong leg and it snapped in exactly the same place as before.
“When I got out of the cast two months ago, they (doctors) told me if I break my leg again it would be a straight operation.
“I’m going on Thursday morning to have X-rays and to get my cast changed over, so I’ll know a lot more then.
“I’m absolutely gutted – heartbroken, to be fair.”
