PALMER’S REBORN DESIRE TO SUCCEED
WITH a Gold Coast win behind her, comeback jockey Rikki Palmer is buoyed for her return to Doomben today.
Palmer will ride Lucky Tom in the Kartaway Open Handicap (1200m) for her old master, Gold Coast trainer Harold Norman.
The jockey and trainer combination capped a big day when they teamed to win with Casino Evil at the Gold Coast last Saturday – Norman’s 80th birthday.
It was Palmer’s first winner since she returned to the saddle after almost two years out for various reasons.
The Gold Coast-based Palmer broke an arm at Beaudesert on her last day as an apprentice almost two years ago.
A lot has changed for Palmer in that time.
The 25-year-old married partner and fellow jockey Matt Palmer, 30, has since become parents to daughter Maci, now nine months old, and enjoyed a stint in Mauritius this year where Matt rode.
Palmer was given the all-clear by doctors to do trackwork again in July.
After returning to racing on October 7 at the Gold Coast, she celebrated her first win back and first as a senior jockey last weekend.
The Palmers’ return to Australia was soured when Matt broke his back.
But new mother Rikki said her husband’s injury and her own long lay-off didn’t put her off racing again despite having Maci now in the picture.
“I wouldn’t like to get hurt again because I have (Maci) and it would be very hard to have a baby and be injured,” she said.
“But you don’t think about that sort of stuff.
“If I was worried about that and thinking about having another fall I wouldn’t ride again.
“I said to Matt when I got back to trackwork if I feel uncomfortable or nervous or think about falling then I won’t ride but it just never happened.
“I was just so excited. I did my first gallop and got the bug back and couldn’t wait to have my first race day.”
Palmer has an affinity with Lucky Tom, who she rode in the 2014 Group 1 Caulfield Guineas.
“I have ridden him since he was a baby and loved him from day one,” Palmer said.