CO Kildare jockey Mark Gallagher suffered minor injuries when an unidentified gunman fired at him three times in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on Saturday, a few days before he was due to ride in the prestigious Invitation Cup race.

A visibly shaken Gallagher, who comes from a leading Irish, racing family, was admitted to hospital on Saturday with a grazed right ear and cheek. He later told reporters he was "okay".

The gunman fired three shots at the jockey from a .32 calibre handgun as he was walking towards the Bangalore Race Club for a workout after parking his car at a nearby hotel.

After the first shot grazed the jockey's ear and cheek - Gallagher fell down, causing the two shots which followed to miss him.

The gunman, reportedly a young man, then jumped onto the back of a scooter which disappeared into morning traffic.

Police said that Gallagher was lucky in surviving the "hit" as the gunman fired all three shots from point blank range.

Gallagher rode two races last Friday, coming second in one and third in the other and was scheduled to take part in another race the day he was shot.

Gallagher, who is married with a child and is a son of Robbie Gallagher who worked for the late P J Prendergast for many years, was brought to Bangalore from Macau, the Portugese colony adjoining Hong Kong, by a top Indian race horse owner three years ago.

In 1995, he was awarded the champion jockey trophy and after a string of victories had recently been signed on by one of India's top horse breeders.