Harry Bentley’s season is over after a scary fall on Saturday and surgery the following morning, but he will be doing all he can to be ready for next season's opening meeting.
Bentley was sent crashing to the turf when Smiling Falcon sustained an injury to the left front leg and fell approaching the 900-meter mark in Race 6 on Saturday and sustained multiple injuries including a broken left arm, a fractured left shoulder blade and five broken ribs on his right side.
Surgeons at Union Hospital operated on Bentley on Sunday, inserting a plate to help his fractured ulna bone heal.
“They’ve put a plate in my arm to put it together," Bentley told The Standard. “My main goal is to get back by the start of next season.”
Bentley has less than three months to meet that goal and will waste no time starting a rehabilitation program.
“I’ll start rehab tomorrow (Monday),” he said. “I will see a physio and do exercises to keep it moving.”
The injury cuts short a strong season for Bentley, who sits seventh in the jockeys’ premiership with 34 wins, already bettering last season’s tally of 31 when he finished 11th. His campaign has also featured two of his biggest Hong Kong wins, the Hong Kong Classic Cup aboard Stormy Grove and the Group 2 Premier Bowl on Tomodachi Kokoroe.
