Pretty Dubious part-owner Vicky Heathcote is hoping for better luck at Jewel Day on Saturday.

Pretty Dubious part-owner Vicky Heathcote is hoping for better luck on Queensland Jewel Day this Saturday after suffering a serious knee injury on the ski slopes in Japan.

Trainer Rob Heathcote with wife Vicky and sprinter Pretty Dubious at their Eagle Farm stables. Picture Lachie Millard

Vicky Heathcote’s version of Stairway to Heaven quickly descended into a Bumpy Road to Hell on the ski slopes in Japan last month.

The part-owner of QTIS Jewel 2YO second favourite ($5) Pretty Dubious, which is trained by her husband Rob, had a day to forget when she suffered a serious knee injury in a fall during her very first run on the slopes in Niseko.

Heathcote ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament, tore her medial and lateral collateral ligaments and fractured her knee in two places.

She will undergo a full knee reconstruction next Wednesday.

“The skis didn’t come off when I fell so it twisted the knee right around,” she recalled.

“I was a red run, it wasn’t an easy one. The run was called Stairway to Heaven.

“The very first run, about 200m in, I went down. I can actually ski too.

“I was going OK. I don’t really know what happened, I must have hit a big clump of snow.

“In hindsight, it probably would’ve been better to warm up but the easier runs were closed.”

Vicky, who must wear a leg brace until she has surgery next week, hopes to have better luck with rising star Pretty Dubious in the rescheduled Jewel Day on Saturday night at the Gold Coast.

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Pretty Dubious is coming off a dominant last-start victory, with Vlad Duric in the saddle, in the 2YO Jewel Prelude (1110m) at Doomben on February 22.

Rob Heathcote said the sprinter was in tip-top shape heading into the $500,000 QTIS Jewel (1200m) for two-year-olds under lights on the Glitter Strip where he will exit barrier seven.

Rob and Vicky Heathcote with Pretty Dubious ahead of the two-year-old’s stern test at the Gold Coast on Saturday Picture Lachie Millard

He said the gelding “behaved himself impeccably” during a recent photo-shoot with News Corp photographer Lachie Millard at the Eagle Farm stables.

“He can be a fractious, nervous type of horse but he behaved himself really well,” Heathcote said.

“We’re happy with him. What’s his ability like on a soft track? I suppose it’s going to be the same for everybody, a bit of an unknown.”

Caulfield Cup-winning jockey Vlad Duric will himself return from injury after suffering concussion and bruised ribs in a sickening race fall on the Sunshine Coast late last month.

READ: Duric ‘blessed’ to avoid serious injury in Sunshine Coast fall

The 47-year-old was forced to stand down from riding for 12 days due to concussion protocols but has been cleared to make his return at the rich Jewel Day.

He desperately wants to win the 2YO Jewel on Pretty Dubious, although he admits having a soft spot for stablemate Caspernova, which will hunt a fourth straight victory in a Class 4 Plate (1200m) on Saturday.

“Caspernova is my favourite because he’s a horse I got on early days and won on,” Duric said.

“He’s got a bit of character, he’s not an easy horse to ride in the mornings.

“I fell off him and broke my toe six weeks ago so there’s a few stories around Caspernova.

“He kicked me off when I came up here (to Brisbane) so I do have a bit of a soft spot for him.

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“He’s definitely a horse that can step up to better races. I just feel that there’s more there and he’s quite progressive. I expect him to win again (on Saturday).”

After a glittering career in Victoria and Singapore, where he rode more than 700 winners, Duric decided to make Brisbane his home early last year.

Ironically, Duric is only riding on the Gold Coast because of Cyclone Alfred, which forced the postponement of Jewel Day to a twilight meeting on Saturday in conjunction with a massive 11-race meeting at Eagle Farm.

Heathcote had asked NSW-based jockey Christian Reith to come home to Queensland to ride his horses on Jewel Day before the lucrative meeting was rescheduled.

Vlad Duric will ride the Rob Heathcote-trained Pretty Dubious in the $500,000 2YO Jewel on the Gold Coast on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters - Trackside Photography

“Christian rode my first ever winner on Kaminka way back in 1997 so we go back a long way,” Heathcote said before Cyclone Alfred caused carnage on the Gold Coast.

Duric is just happy to be healthy again after his horror fall and can’t wait to get back in the saddle.

“It’s a shame for Christian that he couldn’t come up and help Rob out,” he said.

“But I’ve done a lot of work on these horses and I’m just glad I can fulfil my obligations.

“I know the horses really well, I ride them in the mornings too.

“Rob’s been amazing. The fact that he’s happy to have me straight back on is great.”

Originally published as Pretty Dubious part-owner Vicky Heathcote is hoping for better luck at Jewel Day on Saturday.