Adelaide jockey Kayla Crowther recovering from nasty collarbone injury

South Australian jockey Kayla Crowther has recounted how she broke her collarbone in a mounting yard mishap last month as she eyes a return to the saddle soon.

Kayla Crowther celebrates a win on Beauty Rising in February at Morphettville Parks. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

Adelaide jockey Kayla Crowther is hoping to return to trackwork next month, following a fractured collarbone sustained in a pre-race incident at Murray Bridge in April.

Crowther, 26, has avoided surgery, and is making steady progress, the fracture is “protruding” but isn’t giving the hoop too much discomfort.

• PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

“It feels pretty comfortable, it just looks ugly really,” Crowther said.

“I don’t have any pain relief or anything, I can do a fair bit with my left arm now.

“I took horses into the track Monday, Ben (Price) rode them, I can do a little bit, walk them around and put them on the float and stuff with my other arm.”

Crowther is eyeing a return to trackwork riding in June, which would have her back race riding by early July.

She is scheduled for another consultation with Racing SA doctor Steve Kennett in mid-June.

“Dr Kennett said six weeks, which takes me until the 12th of June, he wants to reassess it then,” she said.

“That’s probably to start a bit of trackwork again if he’s happy with it.

“It’s been three weeks and I can’t lift my arm up yet without it hurting, my gut feeling is that he’s probably not going to say ‘you can ride now’.

“I’m hoping if its improved a lot by that six-week mark, and he says I can go back to trackwork, I’ll spend a couple of weeks doing that and it might be a total of eight weeks out from the races.”

Blanc Visage storms over the top of them down the outside 🔥 @KaylaCrowther2pic.twitter.com/X31enpKIPf

— Racing.com (@Racing) April 21, 2025

• ‘No two-horse race’: Gollan insists chances aplenty in Doomben Cup

Crowther was dislodged from the Garret Lynch-trained Got An Inspiration on April 30 when exiting the mounting yard for race six at Murray Bridge.

“He ran into the side of the gate, I sort of flopped off the side of him,” she said.

“The fall was harmless, I was about to get up but he must have got caught on the fence or something, and he just galloped over me.

“To be honest, I was more winded on the other side, I didn’t even feel the collarbone at the start.

“I stood up and I thought ‘I can breathe again, that’s good’.

“I felt my collarbone, and there was already a big lump, and I thought ‘this is broken already’ – you could tell straight away.”

The injury saw Crowther miss out on the remainder of the Adelaide racing carnival, including a Group 1 ride on Prairie Flower in The Goodwood, alongside a win and stakes placing with Fine Future.

“Obviously I would’ve liked to have ridden Prairie Flower again but Will (Price) gave her a perfect ride, she sort of ran up to her best,” she said.

“I was gutted I missed out on Fine Future, he won that finals race and then ran third in a stakes race, that was a bit of a bugger to miss.”

Crowther winning aboard Estefan earlier on the day of her injury. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

• Nichols to unveil well-bred filly after breeder's bad luck

Crowther is one of the hardest working jockeys in South Australia, and while there is never a good time to get injured, it has given the hoop a rare chance to reset.

The premiership winner currently sits second in SA’s statewide premiership with 62 wins.

“It’s a bit of a shame, but to be honest, since I’ve started race riding I don’t think I’ve had more than three weeks off, when I had a little bit of ankle surgery, and I think that was 2018,” Crowther said.

“It’s actually really nice to have a bit of a break from racing, because I would never give myself this much time off.

“It probably came at a good time, to have a real reset, as much as being forced doesn’t help, to have a proper break from racing, it will make me even hungrier.

“I ride everywhere, and ride a lot of races every year, it will ignite a bit more love for it, I love racing, but I think it will drive the passion for it, having a forced break.”

Originally published as Adelaide jockey Kayla Crowther recovering from nasty collarbone injury