Queensland jockey Larry Cassidy eyes off August return after a year on the sidelines

LARRY Cassidy is preparing to return to trackwork this Thursday as the Brisbane jockey eyes off a comeback to race riding in late August.

Larry Cassidy wins the Sunshine Coast Guineas on Winx in May last year. Picture: Tara Croser.

LARRY Cassidy is preparing to return to trackwork this Thursday as the Brisbane jockey eyes off a comeback to race riding in late August.

Cassidy, who has won 42 Group 1 races and rode his 2500th winner in 2014, has turned a corner in recent weeks and now considers himself an 80 per cent chance of riding competitively again.

The 45-year-old has lost 8kg in the past 10 weeks and is excited by the prospect of returning to trackwork this week.

“I go and see my doctor (tomorrow) and he will clear me to ride trackwork,” Cassidy said.
“My knees still aren’t 100 per cent but it’s as close as they will get.

“They still ache a little bit but I’ve been exercising now for 9-10 weeks and I’ve lost 8kg.

“I’m about 59.5kg now so I have about 6kg to go.”

Cassidy is on his third and final attempt to return to the saddle and has been sidelined since June last year after tearing the medial meniscus in both knees.

Cassidy then suffered from osteonecrosis and stress fractures in his left femur during his first comeback attempt in August before encountering stress fractures in his left tibia during his second comeback bid after Christmas.

But after two failed attempts to return to the saddle, Cassidy is confident his knees will stand up to the rigours of riding this time around despite having some doubts early on.

“Even exercising six weeks ago, four weeks into my exercise program, I would have said I have no chance of getting back because my knees were giving me severe pain,” Cassidy said.

“I thought ‘stuff it I will press on’ and they seem to have come right.

“I will start riding work Thursday and I will ride work for close to eight weeks.

“I want to get a lot of barrier trials under my belt and I will be quite confident of riding race day towards the end of August.”

Cassidy rates himself an 80-20 chance of riding again and admits he has never been hungrier.

“That 20 per cent would be just not knowing if my knees will cope with riding trackwork but the way they feel I’m confident they will,” he said.

“I want to come back better than ever to be honest.

“(Not long ago) I had given in to the fact I probably won’t come back but now I feel like I’ve been given this chance and I want it more than anything.”

Cassidy’s last winner was aboard Winx in the Sunshine Coast Guineas in May last year.