Young jockey Logan McGill was due to have surgery on Monday night after suffering a fractured jaw as a result of being king-hit in the car park of a Mornington hotel.The 20-year-old had been celebrating a friend's birthday on Saturday night after riding his first winner as a senior jockey earlier that day at Pakenham.McGill incurred the injury when he was punched from behind by an unknown person.Victoria Police are investigating the incident."It was a clean break which was the good thing about i

Young jockey Logan McGill was due to have surgery on Monday night after suffering a fractured jaw as a result of being king-hit in the car park of a Mornington hotel.

The 20-year-old had been celebrating a friend's birthday on Saturday night after riding his first winner as a senior jockey earlier that day at Pakenham.

McGill incurred the injury when he was punched from behind by an unknown person.

Victoria Police are investigating the incident.

"It was a clean break which was the good thing about it, if you can say there was anything good to come out of it," McGill's manager Dean Hawkes said.

"He's in good spirits. He's looking forward to getting it done and is very keen to get back to riding as soon as he can."

McGill will have a plate inserted in his jaw to hold it together while it heals.

Surgeons will be able to give a better idea of how long he'll be out of action once the operation is performed but he is expected to be sidelined for around a month.

Hawkes said McGill rode talented sprinter Secret Flyer in a barrier trial for trainer Mark Young at Geelong last week ahead of the six-year-old resuming in a $100,000 sprint over 1000m at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

McGill is unbeaten in three rides on Secret Flyer - twice at Moonee Valley and in the RDA Victoria Sprint (1000m) at Flemington last April - and was in line to ride the gelding again on Saturday.

He rode 144 winners as an apprentice including 28 in the metropolitan area, but spent the last couple of weeks of his apprenticeship serving a careless riding suspension before resuming on Arapaho Miss at Caulfield on August 1.

Apart from his association with Secret Flyer, another highlight of his career was his Benalla Cup (2306m) victory aboard Rhumb Line last October.