Oxford's Nuffield Hospital had a bed ready for jockey Mick Fitzgerald as he continued to recover from a neck injury sustained in the Grand National at Aintree.

The 37-year-old rider from Childrey, near Wantage, was unshipped from L'Ami at the second fence.

"He is awaiting transfer by either air or road ambulance to the Nuffield Hospital, where a bed awaits him," said a spokesman.

Fitzgerald underwent an initial eight-hour operation to realign three vertebrae and two discs at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on Sunday and is due to move closer to home before a scheduled second bout of surgery.

The operation was a success.

It was hoped that Fitzgerald would be transferred to Nuffield Hospital nearer his Oxfordshire home, but that depended on the results of a further MRI scan "Chloe, Mick's partner, has spoken to him after the operation and he is in a comfortable condition."

The veteran jump jockey was sidelined for several months when he broke a bone in his neck in a fall at Market Rasen in July 2005.