Unlucky break rules injured jockey Dettori out of season

The former champion jockey – who was due to ride leading fancy Treve in Sunday’s showpiece race at Longchamp – was unshipped from Eland Ally prior to the 32Red.com Handicap at the East Midlands track.

He was unable to put any weight on his right ankle as he attempted to get to his feet and although an initial on-course prognosis suggested he had suffered only soft-tissue damage, X-rays subsequently revealed a break.

“It’s bad news, not good news” said Peter Burrell, the jockey’s business manager.

“He went to Cambridge Hospital and X-rays found that he had suffered a fractured ankle.

“He was extremely disappointed on the phone and did not want to discuss it much more than that.

“It’s an extremely painful injury. Sunday is out – as is the season.”

Meanwhile, John Gosden’s brilliant mare The Fugue has been given an entry in the Prix de l’Opera as an alternative to her engagement in the Arc.

Already a dual Group One winner this year having clinched the Yorkshire Oaks and the Irish Champion Stakes under William Buick, The Fugue now the option of keeping to her own sex in the 10-furlong Opera, a prestigious Group One prize in its own right.

She is owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his wife Madeleine.

In other Longchamp news, the aforementioned Gosden’s Kingman is the eyecatching name among the 14 acceptors for Sunday’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

The Group One for two-year-olds could be the next port of call for the ante-post 2000 Guineas favourite who is unbeaten from two starts.

Dual Doncaster Cup hero Times Up is one of 14 possible runners in the Qatar Prix du Cadran.

Elsewhere, two Yorkshire-trained runners are entered in the Prix de l’Abbaye, Europe’s premier sprint that was won two years ago by Tangerine Trees for Hambleton trainer Bryan Smart.

Smart’s neighbour Kevin Ryan has entered Hamza while Geoff Oldroyd’s Ladies Are Forever – the winner of York’s Group Three Summer Stakes – is also included in the 24 runners.

Plans to introduce racing on Good Friday next year have been rubber-stamped by the British Horseracing Authority, despite opposition from organisers of the Middleham Open Day who believe that it will detract from their fundraiser.

Other changes include boosting prize money on Saturdays, the sanctioning of additional jump fixtures in the North next September and giving jockeys more flexibility over when they can take one-day and two-day bans.