Kieren Fallon faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after undergoing major surgery on the shoulder he injured in a fall at Royal Ascot, it has emerged.
The champion jockey is reported to have had an operation at the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, on Thursday night to restore nerves in his left shoulder and to graft on new ones.
'It is a serious operation and he will be out of action for a long time,' Fallon's main retainer Sir Michael Stoute told the Daily Mail.
But Fallon's agent Dave Pollington still remains in the dark. 'I have no comment really. I don't know any more than what's in the papers,' he said this morning.
Phyllis Shelton, one of the directors from the National Orthopaedic Hospital, said: 'We are not able to comment on individual patients, you'll understand, but his own stable has been briefed.'
Fallon was injured when his mount Alhawa was brought down in a four horse pile-up caused when Prairie Falcon slipped and fell on the home turn in the Ascot Stakes on Wednesday.
Despite being out of action for the last two days of the meeting, Fallon clinched the London Clubs Trophy as top jockey at the meeting with four winners.
Fallon has been champion jockey for the last three seasons partnering more than 200 winners on each occasion. He is on the 59-mark this term. -PA
