Quality galloper Bumper Storm has broken his jaw in an accident and will be out of action for at least eight weeks.
But trainer Patrick Biancone was thankful yesterday, saying it could have been a lot worse.
'He was on the walking machine, actually right in front of me. He bit at a partition of a door and it came back and smashed him in the jaw,' he said.
'I was able to get him off immediately and get the vet to sedate him and operate immediately.
'He was unconscious for some time, but when he woke up he began to eat almost immediately so you cannot get a better sign than that.' Bumper Storm was expected to line up in tomorrow's Connaught Stakes against the David Hayes-trained Special and Electronic Zone, the horse bumped 26 pounds on the strength of his last win.
Biancone said: 'It is unfortunate but it still leaves us with some races towards the end of the season.' The absence of Bumper Storm robs tomorrow's terms race for four-year-olds over 1,400 metres of some interest as only six will go to the post for the event.