Jump jockey Sean Curran, who split his liver and punctured his stomach in an horrific schooling accident in August, is to undergo another operation within the next 48 hours.

The freelance, who took a crashing fall while putting a young horse through its paces at Anthony Jones's Lambourn yard, was hoping to be back in the saddle by the end of January.

But he said: "This could set me back a little while. I went for a scan at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and they found that there was some bad blood around the stomach area and I need an operation to remove it.

"I was also told by the consultant that one of my lungs is punctured, but he says that will return to normal fairly soon.

"I have just returned from a week in the sunshine in Portugal and this was the last thing I wanted to hear, but I am determined to be back riding again as soon as possible."

Curran has ridden more than 60 winners and is biggest success to date was on Killeshin in the Eider Chase at Newcastle in 1996.