Tony McCoy suffers broken ribs in fall at Taunton

McCoy needed oxygen to help his breathing and was taken to hospital after he fell riding Laudatory. The 16-time champion jockey gave up his final ride of the day, Hopeful Start, in the closing handicap chase, and will miss his intended rides at Warwick this afernoon.

“Broke a few ribs so not too bad. Hopefully back to work very soon,” the 37-year-old said on his Twitter account. “Just need the doctor to let me out of the hospital now and I’ll be happy.”

McCoy is on course to win his 17th title, leading the championship with 174 victories this season.

Meanwhile, Musselburgh is bringing in the New Year with a bang, its New Year’s Day meeting offering prize money of over £80,000. With two feature races boasting a £50,000 purse between them and broadcast live on Channel 4, Musselburgh expects revellers will welcome in 2012 in large numbers. The £30,000 Hogmaneigh Hurdle at 2.25 has attracted a competitive turnout, but recent form suggests that this valuable handicap will be dominated by the Musselburgh specialist Gordonsville, seeking his third consecutive success at the East Lothian course.

Regular partner Graham Lee returns from injury to take the ride and Gordonsville can show too much finishing speed for Lady Bluesky, ridden by Ewan Whillans and trained near Hawick by his father, Alistair.

Musselburgh Racecourse boss Bill Farnsworth has a vision of building up the New Year’s Day fixture to become Scotland’s main festive race meeting with two £50,000 races. He said: “This will be a template for building the January 1st meeting into Scotland’s top festive race day and the long-term ambition is to have two £50,000 feature races which, of course, will depend on support from the racegoing public and potential sponsors.”

Athletics fans will also be out in force on 1 January with qualifying heats of the historic New Year Sprint taking place in between races and the final just before the fifth jumps race at 2.25pm.

Looking at this afternoon’s action, Triple Charm can defy a 4lb rise and make it a hat-trick with victory in the totepool Handicap at Lingfield.

Jeremy Noseda’s three-year-old has taken time to find her feet, but after making it third-time lucky at Windsor in October, she has since struck again.

Pitched into handicap company off a mark of 72 at Lingfield last month, Triple Charm was sent off a well-backed favourite to score at the first time of asking in this sphere. However, she was made to work hard for her half-length victory over Ice Trooper and a 4lb rise from the handicapper seems a little harsh. Triple Charm remains an unexposed type, though, and she still appears to be learning with every outing.

Fingal Bay is sure to attract all the attention at Newbury as he bids to extend his winning run to five in the Bathwick Tyres Challow Novices’ Hurdle and it will be a major shock if this hot favourite is beaten.