DURIC'S CAREFULLY MEASURED RETURN TO RIDING

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Group 1 winning jockey Vlad Duric is back in the saddle, but he is taking a measured approach to his return to race riding after being away from the sport since his involvement at a Gold Coast meeting on March 15.

Just twenty days earlier Duric had seemingly escaped serious injury when his mount, The Player, clipped heels after the winning post, fell and pinned Duric underneath him, so he continued riding up until that March 15 date, but all was not well.

In pain now, which was getting progressively worse, scans finally found the root cause of the problem, a vertebra was pinching some nerves … and while surgery was an option, Duric elected to allow ‘father time’ to do the healing, and he prepared to wait it out until he got the green light to resume riding.

That time off brought problems of its own though.

With no physical action to occupy him the mind-games could take over, and that’s what it did in Duric’s case, as the rider, by his own admission, questioned his future, going through a relatively tough time mentally in that regard … but, as is almost universally accepted, once you are in it, racing is a tough game to leave and, in any event, when it is time to call time, everybody would prefer to go out on their own terms.

So, it is no surprise to welcome back to race riding.

Duric’s first meeting back was at the Sunshine Coast on New Year’s Day where he finished fourth on the Robert Heathcote trained Sultry Siren. (He was replaced on a second ride and was reprimanded by stewards for accepting a ride when overweight … a sharp reminder of work that still has to be done).

But, like any good professional Duric quickly put that misstep behind him to return to the winner’s enclosure with his only ride on January 2 at Ipswich aboard Carbonara, again for the Heathcote stable, in what was a morale boosting victory.

It is a slowly, slowly approach from Duric though. It is more important to come back strong than come back too quickly.

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