Lee Out, McCoy Still in Doubt

Following a month of uncertainty, Tony McCoy is due to hear whether he’ll be cleared to race at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival later this afternoon. Whilst doubt lingers over McCoy's participation, another of national hunt racing’s top jockeys has confirmed that he won’t be racing at this year’s meeting.

Graham Lee was injured in a fall at Huntington in January that saw him sustain a concussion and multiple fractures to his jaw. Although Lee had initially declared himself determined to compete in the 2008 Cheltenham Festival, the doctors of the National Horseracing Authority felt differently and Lee was prohibited from riding in the Festival after a final check-up this week.

If Tony McCoy is declared unfit to participate in the 2008 Cheltenham Festival, he will lose the opportunity to win the Cheltenham Festival Top Jockey prize for the first time since 1998, leaving Ruby Walsh virtually unobstructed in his quest to take his third Top Jockey title.

The absence Lee and McCoy from the 2008 Cheltenham Festival would also be expected to impact on the tussle for the national hunt champion jockey title.

Tony McCoy and Graham Lee are currently ranked first and second in the national hunt jockey championships respectively, and should they both miss the 2008 Cheltenham Festival, Ruby Walsh may be in with a real chance of becoming the first rider in eleven years to wrest the champion jockey title from Tony McCoy.

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