Digger acts when hips are cracking
EVERY HORSE I RODE, EVEN IN TRACKWORK, I WAS IN AGONY. IT GOT TO A STAGE WHERE I WAS IN AGONY 24/7 AND I COULDN’T STAND IT ANY MORE.
JOCKEY Darryl McLellan will make his second comeback in five months today after overcoming a hip injury that left him in agony on a daily basis.
McLellan had hip surgery in November to fix an issue that had plagued him since childhood and flared last year.
“I had an injury from when I was a child and when I came back after those five years out it flared up so I had to get it all cleaned up,” the man nicknamed Digger said.
“I had arthritis really bad and the ball was too big for the joint in my socket because it had calcified.
“I didn’t have much movement and it was very painful
so I wanted to get it fixed before I went any further.
“It was getting to the stage where it was unbearable.
“It was hard to ride and I never got comfortable. Every horse I rode, even in trackwork, I was in agony.
“It got to a stage where I was in agony 24/7 and I couldn’t stand it any more. It was affecting my riding.
“I wasn’t going to get anywhere near back to where I was with it like that.”
The 46-year-old returned to racing in August last year,
nearly six years falling at a Newcastle meeting in 2011.
Serious shoulder injuries kept him out of the saddle and almost ended the career of the hoop who rode more than 1000 winners, including the 2002 Sydney Cup on Henderson Bay.
The Group 1-winning jockey has four Coast rides today – Givem Hell, Chasin, Beat The Beast and Distroyia.
McLellan rated all four genuine chances of giving him a winner on his comeback day.
The jockey had a slight setback with his hip when he got stuck between a brick wall and a horse three weeks ago but said it felt good going into today’s races.
“It feels unreal,” McLellan said. “No one likes to be in pain so it will be all good this time around.”
McLellan said he would start off riding at provincial meetings at the Gold Coast – where he won on the Toby Edmonds-trained Awake The Stars in his last start – but still had the thirst to get to a bigger stage.
“What I’m after this year is to be fit, healthy and get right back into the swing of things,” McLellan said.
“Once I get 100 per cent fit I think I’ll be chasing a bit bigger stage.”