Sean Bowen to miss Cheltenham Festival after breaking collarbone at Kempton

Sean Bowen's wait for a first Cheltenham Festival winner will go on for at least another year after he suffered a broken collarbone at Kempton on Saturday.

Bowen, 22, the son of Welsh trainer Peter, is attached to Harry Fry's Dorset yard and was riding the well-fancied Just A Sting for the trainer in the £100,000 Betway Handicap Chase at Kempton.

The eight-year-old blundered badly and unseated Bowen at the sixth, leaving the talented rider on the sidelines for a month – a particularly cruel blow with Cheltenham on the horizon.

"I saw Geoff Graham, a specialist in Cardiff on shoulders and that area, on Monday and will go back to see him in three weeks to that day," Bowen said on Wednesday.

"I'll get another scan then and that might be four weeks from the injury. It's the worst time to be out, but that's life and I'll be back for the Grand National meeting at Aintree.

"I knew I'd done it straight away and as soon as I hit the floor I knew it was gone."

Champion conditional in 2014-15, Bowen has filled the void created by Noel Fehily's retirement at Fry's yard this season, riding 17 winners at a respectable 17 per cent strike-rate.

The Bath-based jockey enjoyed his biggest win on the Fry-trained If The Cap Fits in Aintree's Grade 1 Stayers Hurdle last year.

In Bowen's absence, Johnny Burke partnered the potentially smart Boothill to a stylish victory in Kempton's bumper.

Fry said: "Johnny did a fine job on Saturday, stepping in, and we'll try to use him first and then the best available. We haven't entered Boothill for Cheltenham; options are open – Aintree, Punchestown, or an ordinary bumper under a penalty."

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