Kerrin McEvoy backs Celestial Legend replacement rider Tyler Schiller to ‘get the job done’ in Doncaster Mile

Celestial Legend’s regular jockey Kerrin McEvoy expects the colt to go close in the Doncaster Mile and provides an update on his recovery from a neck injury.

Champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy, convalescing from a serious neck injury sustained in a race fall, is convinced Tyler Schiller can “get the job done” on talented colt Celestial Legend in the Group 1 $4m Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

McEvoy is Celestial Legend’s regular rider and partnered the Les Bridge-trained colt to his last start win in the Randwick Guineas.

But McEvoy was always going to relinquish the Doncaster ride on Celestial Legend as he could not make the grey three-year-old’s 49kg impost.

Bridge subsequently booked lightweight jockey Schiller for the Doncaster but in the interim McEvoy was injured in a race fall on Golden Slipper day.

McEvoy, who has ridden 84 Group 1 winners during his career and is surely close to earning Hall of Fame honours, will be watching the Doncaster from the comforts of his Sydney lounge room.

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“Tyler has had a couple of sits on Celestial Legend at trackwork and he will be fine on Saturday, I’m sure he will make the right decisions,’’ McEvoy said.

“This a great Doncaster and the weather is going to play a part but he’s riding a quality young horse who has won on wet tracks.

“The barrier (six) gives Tyler the chance to put the horse into a good position and with the lightweight, I can see him Les’s colt running very well.’’

Kerrin McEvoy hands over the reins on Celestial Legend to Tyler Schiller in the Doncaster Mile. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

McEvoy was injured in a fall during the last race at the Golden Slipper meeting on March 23. He had ridden a Group 1 winner the previous race on Zapateo in The Galaxy.

The champion jockey lay motionless on the track for some time after the fall as ambulance officers stabilised his neck and back injuries before taking him to hospital.

McEvoy was later found to have cracked the C6 vertebrae in his neck and also suffered a couple of broken ribs.

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“Fortunately, my neck injury didn’t need surgery and I was able to remove my neck brace after a few days,’’ McEvoy said.

“With these injuries, you just never, never know. As long as you are walking, it’s a bonus.’’

McEvoy is not putting a time frame on when he is likely to return to race riding.

“I’ve been doing rehab and getting some movement back,’’ he said.

“I’ve got a couple of cracked ribs which have been giving me more grief than the C6 injury.

“I’m going back to my specialist in four weeks to assess how the injury is going but I want to make sure I’m right when I do return so it might take five or six weeks.’’

Originally published as Kerrin McEvoy backs Celestial Legend replacement rider Tyler Schiller to ‘get the job done’ in Doncaster Mile