After a winter break which included a trip to England, Group One-winning jockey Damian Lane returns to race riding for the first time in more than six weeks at Sandown.
Lane hasn’t ridden in a race since June 4 and has one ride on Wednesday aboard the Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Summer Wind.
During his break, Lane went to the UK for a few weeks.
“I was originally going with the intention of riding in races but my visa didn’t come through in time,” Lane said.
“I still took the opportunity to take a break and give the body a rest and I also rode a bit of trackwork at different places while I was there just to have a look around.”
One horse he got the chance to jump aboard in trackwork was the Roger Charlton-trained Quest For More who he partnered to a ninth placing in last year’s Melbourne Cup.
He also rode for Andrew Balding and Newmarket trainer David Simcock.
“It was a good experience just to see how they do things. It’s a completely different style of training,” the jockey said.
“It’s something I would definitely look to do in the future, have a stint riding there. I think there’s things to be learned.
“It’s a long, gruelling season here so it’s good to give the body a break, and to be able to go and have a look at how things are done somewhere else was a bonus.”
Lane is looking forward to riding Summer Wind in The Grand Hotel Frankston Handicap (1200m).
A half-sister to stakes winner Thermal Current, Summer Wind has finished fourth at Bendigo and second at Pakenham in her two starts.
“Summer Wind is a very smart filly and it’s a very good race for a seven-horse two-year-old field in the off-season,” Lane said.
“But I think she’ll run well.”
