• Champion jockey faces operation on right arm after Exeter fall• Rider optimistic he will back in time for Cheltenham FestivalRichard Johnson, the champion jockey over jumps for the last four seasons, was said to be “very positive” on Tuesday evening that he will be back in the saddle in time to ride at the Cheltenham Festival in March, despite suffering a broken right arm when he was unseated from Westend Story in a novice chase at Exeter earlier in the day.
Johnson sustained his injury seven weeks to the day before the opening afternoon of the 2020 Festival on 10 March, while the Professional Jockeys’ Association lists the average recovery time from a broken arm as 62 days.