What a sad post for me.
The boots have been hung up due to a forced retirement through injury.
After the last accident at Grafton at the end of March, when a horse reared over and landed on me inside the starting gates, my body has just decided it isn’t wanting to play the game of racehorses full time anymore.
To say I am upset is an understatement, I have been in racing since I was only 14. I haven’t known anything else except riding these beautiful creatures and feeling the thrill when you go past the post first.
While my riding life has been chequered with experiences, some good, some bad, it’s a job I hoped to do for a lot longer yet.
Nothing deterred me from comebacks, not a broken neck, not a twice fractured back. Broken legs, arms, wrists, jaw, nose, ribs, dislocated knee, all got rehabbed and held up for me to continue the path as a jockey.
But this damn shoulder and all it’s been through has just pulled me up.
Three surgeries. One open shoulder. Two keyhole. Trying so hard to regain the strength in it to hold 600kg of horse. Getting back to my first race day after my final surgery with a win after almost two years of being side lined.