Jockey Nick Hall is back in the saddle after recovering from hip surgery and is looking forward to the spring carnival.
Hall hadn’t ridden in a race for more than three months until taking two rides at Bendigo on Thursday.
“I had a hip impingement. I was born pretty much not to ride,” the five-time Group One-winning jockey said.
“When I got into the riding position, the end of my femur was grabbing on to part of my hip joint.
“It would click and it would be right again but it was continual wear and tear because of that and it wore the cartilage out and basically it was bone on bone so they reshaped my femur bone so it fits better and hopefully the problem won’t reoccur.”
Hall said he had been in quite a bit of pain after riding.
“When you are in the moment and riding you don’t think about it but when I had to back up and ride on a Sunday I’d be getting around with a limp and it would be really tight so it was affecting my riding for sure,” he said.
Hall said a lot of rest was required after the operation.
“I’ve been doing a lot of stretching, core strength work, hydrotherapy and a lot of gym work,” he said.
Hall said the crouching position puts a lot of strain on the hips so he wanted to stay off horses for as long as possible.
“I knew it was going to be three months so I let it slide and I got stuck into a few hamburgers and I got up to 62kg but I’m down to 55kg now and I’m riding at 55kg at Geelong on Friday,” he said.
“I’ve been back riding (trackwork) for two to three weeks now.”
Hall has two rides at Flemington on Saturday including import At First Sight ($61) in the Aurie’s Star Hcp (1200m).
The Lloyd Williams-owned Galileo five-year-old, runner-up to Workforce in the 2010 Epsom Derby (2400m), is having his first Australian start in the Group Three feature.
“He’s going really well,” Hall said of the former Aidan O’Brien-trained galloper.
The Robert Hickmott stable will saddle up four runners in the Aurie’s Star, the others being Alandi ($101), to be ridden by Steven Arnold, Midas Touch ($61), to be ridden by Steven King and Green Moon ($101) to be handled by Michelle Payne.
Hall’s other mount at the meeting is the Luke Oliver-trained River Bypass ($18) in the Rosemarie Yates and Andrew Cason Hcp (1410m).
AAP TURF
