Beadman to undergo surgery on cheekbone

Jockey Darren Beadman will be sidelined indefinitely after complications arising from a race fall and will have corrective surgery on his fractured cheekbone today.

The Australian denied reports in local media that he was in a more serious condition.

Two weeks ago Beadman left Prince of Wales Hospital two days after falling in a trial at Sha Tin, but he returned less than 12 hours later when he became dizzy at home.

Additional MRI scans revealed he had micro bleeds on his brain, and he has remained in hospital since.

'There have been reports in some papers that I've had blood clots, but that's far from the truth,' Beadman said. 'They've told me nerves have been ruptured and there were a few micro-bleeds. You can see on the scan where the nerves have been ruptured. I didn't find that out until I went back into hospital, because it didn't show up on the original CT scan, but once I went home I knew I wasn't right.'

Beadman will have a metal plate inserted in his right cheek to repair the depressed bone. Doctors have waited for the swelling to subside enough to operate.

'It wasn't something they had to do straight away, but they couldn't wait too long,' he said.