Star English jockey Tom Marquand will be sidelined for two months with a dislocated shoulder but remains hopeful of making a late Sydney autumn carnival cameo.
Marquand suffered the injury when he fell heavily from Dorothy Gail in the $2 million Inglis Millennium at Randwick last Saturday.
While initial scans didn’t reveal any serious concerns, subsequent investigations have shown a posterior dislocation of Marquand’s sternoclavicular joint, which links the clavicle and breastbone.
He will have surgery to stabilise the joint on Wednesday and is expected to be out of the saddle for eight weeks.
In a social media video, Marquand said the extent of his injury only came to light after he underwent further MRI scans of his shoulder on Tuesday.
“It has basically dislocated backwards so I have to go for an operation today (Wednesday) to get it wired back in,” Marquand said.
“I will probably spend a week here now in Australia just because I can’t fly straight after having an operation.
“Then the plan will be to come back to England and go through my rehab there and hope that I can get back in action by the time the last couple of days of The Championships are on and all being well, head back down to Sydney.”
Marquand will be recuperating alongside his wife, fellow jockey Hollie Doyle, who is also out injured having suffered further complications after fracturing an elbow in a race fall in England last month.
“Hollie is having a bit of a shocker as well, off with her elbow and she is going under the knife early next week,” Marquand said.
“We will be in rehab and recuperation together and be a right pair so at least we’ve got two arms between us.
“It’s obviously not ideal what’s going on, but I think we can both count ourselves pretty lucky in the circumstances.”
Nicknamed ‘Aussie Tom’, Marquand has been a frequent and popular visitor to Sydney and has claimed three Group 1 wins in Australia, including back-to-back Queen Elizabeth Stakes aboard the William Haggas-trained Addeybb in 2020-21.
He only returned for his latest sojourn two weeks ago and had been gearing up to partner Haggas’ quartet of autumn carnival hopefuls, including early Sydney Cup favourite Earl Of Tyrone.