REPRODUCED COURTESY OF THE RACING POST
TONY McCOY will not ride again until the weekend at the earliest in a bid to be fully fit for the start of the Crabbie’s Grand National meeting in nine days’ time.Speaking at Towcester on Monday, McCoy indicated the bruising he sustained in a fall at the Cheltenham Festival almost two weeks ago was still troubling him.
McCoy took a couple of days off after Cheltenham and has ridden winners since, including posting his 200th success of the season on Palermo Don at Haydock six days ago.
However, after drawing a blank at Towcester the champion was still feeling sore and was strongly advised by jockeys’ doctor Philip Pritchard to take the rest of the week off.
McCoy said: “Dr Pritchard has been treating me for the bruising and told me that continuing riding at the moment was only aggravating the bruising and that I definitely needed to give it a bit more time to settle down.
“I’m still getting a lot of pain at times and feel very sore, so I’m now resigned to having the rest of the week on the easy list. I hope to be back by the weekend.”
McCoy will be crowned champion for the 19th time at the end of the season in just over a month and wants to be fit and well for the busy end-of-season schedule.
He said: “It’s important I’m at the top of my game for Aintree, so taking a break seems the sensible option as I don’t want to be letting anyone down.”
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