Jockey Mark Zahra hopes to back riding on Memsie Stakes Day after a tumble at Flemington left him with a hairline fracture to an elbow.
Zahra was aboard Second Slip and cantering to the barriers ahead of the fifth race at Flemington last Saturday when he was thrown from the Adelaide-trained galloper.
“We had cantered off and I was giving him a nice bowl, but he started to hump up a bit, so I thought I’d go a bit faster and get the hump out of him,” Zahra told RSN.
“But as I was going faster, he got higher and attempting to buck, so I thought I’d better slow down.
“He did buck a couple of times and threw me over his head into the turf.”
The jockey saw Racing Victoria’s doctor, Gary Zimmerman, on Monday who found the hairline fracture.
“They drew a fair bit of blood out of the joint which took a bit of the pain away and he’s pretty confident I will be back in three weeks,” Zahra said.
“I’ve got it in a sling and I bruised a couple of ribs and they’re actually giving me more hassle than the elbow.”
Zahra said he hopes to be back for Memsie Stakes Day at Caulfield on August 28 but if not fully fit said he would be ready to ride at The Valley the following week.
He said the sling would come off in 10 days’ time and he would commence physio after that while adding he wants to get a couple of days trackwork under the belt before returning to race riding.
The injury could not have come at a worse time.
Zahra has been booked to ride the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained three-year-old Artorius and Argentia through the spring.
He was forced to miss their trials at Cranbourne on Monday.
