Pride of Jenni’s rider Declan Bates to undergo knee surgery to ensure he is fit for the Spring Carnival

Jockey Declan Bates will undergo surgery ahead of a break before he prepares for another big spring in partnership with wonder mare Pride Of Jenni.

Declan Bates wins the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Pride of Jenni.

Surgery will put an early end to jockey Declan Bates’s amazing 2023/24 season.

Bates’s combination with outstanding mare Pride Of Jenni for three Group 1 wins and victory in the All-Star Mile, producing some of Australian racing’s best moments of the season.

Bates produced one of the great rides to win the $5m Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in Sydney, setting up a huge midrace lead before Pride Of Jenni beat the best 2000m horses in training in the autumn by 6½ lengths.

The combination with Pride Of Jenni has propelled Bates’s prizemoney tally for the season to more than $12.2m, almost four times his previous best.

But Bates will soon head into hospital for an operation to tidy up a knee issue stemming from a fall in 2019.

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Pride Of Jenni takes the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1)!

pic.twitter.com/wQIOxlqCeW

— IFHA's Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (@worldsbesthorse) April 13, 2024

“It’s not serious,” Bates said.

“It’s just an old injury. I have a couple of screws in my knee from when I broke my kneecap in a fall a few years ago. I’m just getting them taken out. They could stay in but it’s the right time of the year to have a little freshen-up so I’ll go in, get them taken out.

“It will require a few weeks’ recovery for that but it will ensure I’m fit and ready to go for the spring.”

Bates said the screws had started to niggle at him but he could have continued riding.

However, he said the quieter winter months were the perfect time to undergo the procedure to ensure he was 100 per cent fit for Pride Of Jenni’s return to racing next season.

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PRIDE OF JENNI WINS THE ALL-STAR MILE! 🏆 @cmaherracingpic.twitter.com/3pibFAiU8E

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) March 16, 2024

“It niggles me now and again. I get a bit of pain in it every so often,” Bates said.

“I had an MRI on it and the surgeon said the screws had just moved a touch and that is just causing a bit of irritation.

“I could ride on, no problem, but I’m looking for a bit of a holiday so we thought we’d do that now and get it sorted. It’s coming to that time of the year where I’m coming to the end of my prep so it will be good to have a break.”

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Originally published as Pride of Jenni’s rider Declan Bates to undergo knee surgery to ensure he is fit for the Spring Carnival