Fitzgerald facing up to a long recovery

Mick Fitzgerald is facing up to six months on the sidelines after undergoing an

eight-hour operation at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on his injured neck on Sunday evening.

The surgery to realign

three vertebrae and two

discs and the subsequent

recuperation period will

leave the 37-year-old

questioning whether he

should extend a

wonderful career that

has earned him Gold

Cup and Grand National

success.

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Horror: Mick Fitzgerald is taken away on a stretcher

It is the second time

Fitzgerald has suffered a

neck injury. He was out

for four months in 2005

after a fall at Market

Rasen.

The injury, in the more

mobile neck region, is

more serious than in the

relatively stable lower

back sustained by

champion jockey Tony

McCoy in February.

Dr Michael Turner, the

BHA's chief medical

officer, said: It's not the

operation that is the

problem, it's what he

can do with his neck

afterwards and we

won't know that for a

few weeks.'

Josh Apiafi, the chief

executive of the

Professional Jockeys'

Association, said: 'He

has come through the

operation well and also

has movement in his

limbs.

'Chloe, Mick's partner,

has spoken to him after

operation and he is in

comfortable condition.'

Fitzgerald was injured

in a fall from L'Ami at

the second fence in

Saturday's National.