James Doyle could be out for three or four weeks

Wathnan Racing's James Doyle sidelined with broken collarbone

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Mon April 21, 2025 · 8M ago

William Buick will ride for Wathnan Racing when available while James Doyle recovers from a broken collarbone.

Doyle is the retained rider for Wathnan Racing but could be out of action for a month following a fall from Forever Proud, who suffered a fatal injury, at Chelmsford on Good Friday.

Richard Brown, racing advisor to Wathnan Racing, provided an update on the Nick Luck Daily podcast.

"Unfortunately James had a fall at Chelmsford last week and he's broken his collarbone," he said.

"He's going to be out for three or four weeks, we're just waiting for a full prognosis in the next 24 hours and then we'll know whether he requires surgery or not but he's certainly going to be our for three or four weeks which is a big blow for us at this time of year.

"I think having seen the fall, if you said afterwards 'would you take a broken collarbone?' I think all of us would have said yes, it was pretty horrendous watching. It was a nasty high speed fall and we have to look at the positives. It is a collarbone and they're relatively easy to fix."

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Kieran Shoemark will be called upon but so, too, will William Buick when not required by Charlie Appleby and Godolphin and Buick is set to ride Haatem on Friday at Sandown in the Group 2 bet365 Mile.

"William Buick will ride when available which obviously might not be that much.," Brown continued.

"He's able to ride Haatem so that gets us off to a start and then we'll see what Charlie is doing in the Classic Trial."

Brown issued a positive bulletin who hasn't raced since Royal Ascot but expects him to improve for the run.

"He's come back in great," he said.

"He's got an amazing constitution, very tough horse, looks fantastic and his work has been good. He's quite a thick set horse so I think, whatever happens, he's going to come on for this run but Richard [Hannon] seems very happy with him."

Wathnan Racing could also be represented by Damysus in the Classic Trial and when asked how good he could be, Brown replied: "Absolutely no idea. This is what these trials are for, find out where they sit in the pecking order.

"He's run once, won nicely over seven furlongs at Southwell. I watched him do a piece of work with John [Gosden, joint-trainer] on Saturday on the round gallop and he looked like he'd need this trip and even further perhaps.

"He took a while to get going but he did get going and got on top of his lead horse but he's a very, very laid back character, extremely laid back. I think he'll certainly be a lot sharper for this run."

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