WITH the Cheltenham Festival just over a week away, these are nervous times for jockeys, trying to avoid suspensions and injuries and unfortunately for Barry Geraghty he will miss all of the Cheltenham Festival due to injuries sustained in a fall from Charli Parcs at Kempton last Saturday.

The jockey revealed that his injuries include six broken ribs, and has now accepted that returning in time for the Festival is an impossible dream.

"I've a collapsed lung and six broken ribs on my right side. I'm obviously devastated to miss the Festival - there were so many good horses to look forward to as JP's (McManus) team all look in particularly good shape this year," he said.

"Saturday night was pretty rough. I've broken ribs individually before but never had six go all at the same time. I'll be in hospital for a few more days but once the lung improves my recovery should be straightforward and I expect to be back for Aintree."

The news will also come as a major blow to Charli Parcs' trainer Henderson, who had earlier in the day expressed his optimism that Geraghty would return.

The had a host of big rides to look forward to at the Festival - where he has 34 career winners to his name - and could have opted to ride ante-post favourite Buveur D'Air for Henderson and McManus in the Champion Hurdle on the opening afternoon, March 14, or Yanworth for Alan King in the same colours.

Henderson, meanwhile, had news of Charli Parcs, who went into the Adonis as a leading contender for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle at the Festival, but had been under pressure before seemingly coming back into it, only to fall two out.

He said: "He is fine. He won't go to Newbury on Friday, we do these things (make entries) if they get loose at the start.

"To be honest, I need to talk to Barry. It didn't look like things were going very clever, but Noel (Fehily) said first time he rode him at Kempton he was a bit the same. As soon as he saw daylight off he went when he came off that bend.

"He picked up again having been five or six lengths down and came into the second-last like a bullet.

"We will talk to JP and discuss plans but it's (Cheltenham) is still very possible."

l Now for something a little different, local horse racing and hunting folk are coming together at Thirsk Racecourse next week when North Yorkshire theatre group Livewire stage their latest production, Cold Comfort Farm, a comedy adapted for stage from the 1932 novel of the same name by Stella Gibbons.

The evening performances, which take place at 7pm on March 10 and 11, are in memory of the late Philippa Anne Orde-Powlett, 64, better known as Lady Bolton, or simply Pip, who sadly died in May 2016, after a short illness.

Livewire Theatre Company began in Yorkshire in 1998 and has been performing ever since. In 2016, their latest sell-out production at the Edinburgh Fringe, Twelfth Night, received four-star reviews from The Scotsman, The British Theatre Guide and The Fringe Review.

Pip was a great supporter of Livewire Theatre and all the money raised from the performances will be donated to St Teresa’s Hospice and the Injured Jockeys’ Fund, charities both close to Pip’s heart, whose widower Harry and son Ben are both former amateur jockeys.

Tickets are priced at £25, which includes supper after the performance, and are available from Mary Tate, tel 07772 433174; email mrsmltate@gmail.com or online at fixr-app.com/event/12798.