Davy Russell is set to spend next month’s Cheltenham Festival on the sidelines, having failed to recover from a serious injury sustained in a fall at Limerick in October.

The multiple Irish champion jockey, who has recorded a quarter century of wins at the Festival, was hoping to be back in the saddle at the beginning of March, but in a statement released on Twitter earlier this evening, he announced that he will not be riding at Prestbury Park and will instead have a prelonged spell on the sidelines, with a view to returning to race-riding in April.

Russell, whose three winners at the meeting in 2020 included the unbeaten Envoi Allen in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, will no doubt be keen to get back in time for an historic attempt at a third Grand National on Tiger Roll.  The Gigginstown House Stud-owned ten-year-old was yesterday allotted a mark of 166 for the Aintree extravaganza, leaving him on a 7lbs higher mark than when successful in the race for the second time in 2019.