Top jockey Kerrin Mcevoy’s return from injury will come full circle at Rosehill where his eight rides include Brad Widdup’s lightly raced sprinter Left Field.
It was Widdup’s stable star Tintookie who McEvoy fell from in the final race at Rosehill on Golden Slipper day, suffering a vertebrae injury that sidelined him for two months while Tintookie sadly had to be euthanised.
In linking up with Left Field in the Bisley Workwear Handicap (1100m), McEvoy and the Widdup team are hoping to put the Slipper Day ordeal behind them.
“It’s nice to get a ride for Brad,” McEvoy said.
“The stable had to go through the terrible fall, as did I, so it will be nice to team up with Brad again on a horse that is improving all the time.”
McEvoy suffered a minimally displaced spinal fracture in the Golden Slipper day fall but as the injury was stable, he avoided surgery, his recuperation instead requiring rest and a gradual rehabilitation.
As frightening as the incident looked to the eye, McEvoy said it wasn’t as severe as a fall he had at Gosford in 2010 when he suffered a compressed fracture of his T6 vertebrae, and he was never in any doubt about returning to the saddle.
“The fire is still burning and I think you’d know if you didn’t want to get back in the saddle,” he said.
“I was straight away looking to recover and get well and get back in the saddle and participate at a high level in the sport that I love.”
After easing back into race riding with three mounts at Canterbury midweek and four at Hawkesbury on Thursday, McEvoy will up the ante at Rosehill with rides in eight of the 10 races.
Among them is the Annabel Neasham-trained Sibaaq in the Listed Lord Mayors Cup (2000m), the six-year-old searching for his first success since the 2022 Wellington Cup almost two years ago.
Despite his extended drought from the winner’s list, Sibaaq has been ultra consistent, placing in eight of his subsequent 16 starts and finishing in the top-four 12 times.
He arrives at Saturday’s race off a fourth in the Scone Cup (1600m), beaten less than a length, and from barrier four he should get every chance to deliver Neasham a third consecutive win in the race following victories by Hopeful (2022) and recent Doomben Cup winner Bois D’Argent last year.
“The horse is in good form, he rarely runs a bad race and it looks a nice race for him,” McEvoy said.
“Hopefully we can get him in front and get him home.”
McEvoy links up with Chris Waller in five races, highlighted by his booking aboard the in-form For Victory in the TAB Handicap (1800m) and Step Aside, who resumes in the final race.
“I know the stable is happy with (For Victory). I haven’t been on him at trackwork, but I saw him the other morning and he looks great,” McEvoy said.
“I’m also looking forward to Step Aside. He’s been trialling nicely and has drawn one so he’s another that looks like he might go well for me.”
McEvoy had been in great form prior to his fall, winning the Group 1 Galaxy aboard Zapateo earlier on the same program and finishing a narrow second aboard Coleman in the Golden Slipper.
While he is open to going to Brisbane for the right winter carnival opportunity, he says his immediate focus is on regaining his fitness and form and building momentum heading into the new season.
