The fact that his father Philip trained the mare eased the pain, but Luke Dempsey has already missed at least one winner — Iknowwhereiamnow at Gowran last Saturday — since forced on to the sidelines at Punchestown on November 17th. He may not return to racecourse action until the spring.

“I broke my left ankle in two places and it looks like I’ll be out for about 12 weeks. Hopefully it will be a bit sooner than that and it couldn’t have happened at a much worse time of the year with Christmas coming up,” said the Kildare man.

Dempsey explained: “There was no horse in front of me and he (Roxboro Road) just lost his footing and fell. The horse that came behind me and was brought down did the damage and landed on me.

“I couldn’t have been happier with the ways things were going. I was busy getting loads of rides and had three winners including a Grade 3 winner for Gordon (Elliott) the week before.

“When you see horses that you should have been riding winning is the hardest part. That’s what hurts the most.”