'I'm feeling brilliant' - Ben Curtis flying high after overcoming injury fears

Ben Curtis has bounced back from dislocating his shoulder just over two weeks ago by riding a glut of winners to propel him into second place in the British Flat jockeys' championship.

Curtis suffered the injury at Haydock on May 21 but was back riding just five days later and continued his rampant form with a 60-1 treble for three different trainers at Doncaster on Saturday.

Before Sunday's twilight meeting at Musselburgh, the northern-based rider trailed only William Buick in the title race and was happy with his position after partnering 11 winners in the previous ten days.

"It's brilliant, I'm riding winners for lots of different trainers and I'm enjoying it," he said. "It's early days and William Buick is going to be very hard for anyone to beat as he's a great rider and he's getting plenty of support, but I'll keep riding as many winners as I can and if I'm in contention come Goodwood then we'll really kick on."

Curtis is a best-priced 20-1 chance with Coral and Ladbrokes for the title in a market headed at 4-11 by Buick, who has finished second to Oisin Murphy for the last two years.

William Buick: odds-on favourite to land the Flat jockeys' championshipCredit: Edward Whitaker

The 32-year-old Curtis took time out over the winter to have his shoulder operated on, having suffered dislocations before, including when riding a winner at Newcastle a year ago.

Although his shoulder popped out again mid-race on Skycutter at Haydock, Curtis has every faith in his body holding up.

"It was a bad series of events as I got a bad fall the day before and landed on my shoulder, and I think that put it out of place and then riding in that race did the rest," he said.

"I got it put back in and had an MRI and x-ray and it all came back clear, and the specialists and doctors are very happy. I'm putting strapping on it to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"I had surgery over the winter and my shoulder is absolutely perfect. I'm confident in it now and have ridden lots of winners since I came back and I'm feeling brilliant."

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