Leading Sydney jockey Corey Brown will return to the saddle in considerably less pain than when he left it at the start of the year.
Brown eased his way back into riding after shoulder surgey with four barrier trial mounts on Tuesday and then declared himself fit for a promising book of Rosehill rides on Saturday.
An operation to remove a plate in his left shoulder has been hailed a success by his surgeon and the jockey himself.
“My shoulder is giving me no trouble at all and it is one hundred per cent compared to what it was,” Brown told AAP between Warwick Farm barrier trial rides.
“Before the operation I was taking a few or more painkillers a day and they still weren’t working.
“But from the moment I left the hospital I haven’t had a painkiller.
“It was a different type of pain. You could tell something was annoying it … the plate had moved and something was going on.
“Once the pressure was relieved you could just tell. It was gold.”
A New Year’s Day suspension came with an unexpected benefit for the premiership-winning rider.
“I had only planned on giving it one-and-a-half weeks (out of riding) before I got suspended so it’s been a solid two weeks now,” he said.
“Obviously the longer I had off the better I was going to get.”
Brown is on standby for an Inglis Classic ride because he is unsure if the Craig Carmody-trained first starter Everage will make the field.
Otherwise his comeback book looks strong paper with solid mounts for Chris Waller headed by the imported stayer Secessio.
He will also ride Riva De Lago, Disciple and Loch Leven for the premier trainer.
Brown rode Secessio when the former European stayer, a Listed winner in Germany as a three-year-old, closed strongly under 59kg over 1900m when placed at Canterbury in late December.
