Bad luck stays with Cook after season is ended

DANNY Cook is set to miss the remainder of the National Hunt season after the Yorkshire jump jockey’s injury jinx struck again.

Doctors say his broken leg, an injury that Brian Ellison’s stable jockey suffered at Newcastle last month when a horse lashed off at the start, has not healed.

It is another blow to Cook who had done well to recover from a serious knee injury sustained at Wetherby on Boxing Day, 2011, when his mount crashed out through the wings of a hurdle.

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“He went to the doctor hoping to get the all clear to return to the saddle and was told the leg is still broken,” a disconsolate Ellison told the Yorkshire Post.

“He was told to come back in two months’ time.

“It is very disappointing for Danny – he’s had no luck with injuries over the past two years.

“I’ll just use the best riders available in the meantime. There is someone called AP McCoy who is apparently struggling and wants a few spare rides, there’s Dougie Costello, and we have three good young lads here in the yard.”

The Malton handler also said that his stable star Top Notch Tonto, second in the Queen Elizabeth II at Ascot, will resume training this morning ahead of a campaign that will revolve around Europe’s top Grade One contests.

Wetherby clerk Jonjo Sanderson reports no going concerns ahead of tomorrow’s meeting.

Today’s card at Bangor is another victim of the wet weather.