BROWNIE'S BLOG: THE FIGHT BACK TO PERSONAL FITNESS & BUFFERING TACKLES ANOTHER GROUP 1

By Damian Browne | Friday, October 2, 2015

Damian Browne is rated right up there with the best jockeys in Australia. After severe injury setbacks which would have ended a lesser man’s career, this eleven-time Group 1 winning jockey has fought back against the odds to establish a solid reputation both as a person ... through the calm, confident and professional manner in which he goes about his business ... and as a rider, where he has built an enviable race record largely courtesy of his exceptional expertise as a horseman. Damian’s column, ‘Brownies Blog’ appears exclusively on HRO

It has been good to be back in the saddle for the last five weeks, but riding is still something I have to take one step at a time.

I was out of competitive action for over two months ... from June 21 until my return on August 29. I’d been dealing with the pain in my knee for some time before that and it gradually got worse to the stage where it was starting to affect me and my riding.

I was going to take have a week or two off at the end of the season anyway so I thought I’d get it checked out and see if I could get it all fixed and ready for the new season.

That’s when the specialist I was seeing noticed I had a little tear in my meniscas. (Meniscal tears are commonly occurring knee injuries. Menisci are the wedge-shaped cartilage pieces that act as shock absorbers in your knee).

More problematic than that though was the popliteus tendon which runs around the outside of the knee. I strained it quite badly and I just had to give it time to recuperate.

I simply couldn’t come back too early as that would have defeated the whole object of the exercise and things just dragged on until it became a two month issue.

Even when I got the green light to come back, it was more a trial and error sort of thing. We just took it very slowly at first and I’m still taking each week as it comes while I steadily work my way into it.

I have taken more rides at Caloundra than anywhere else since my return. I find it is a lot less stressful on my legs riding around Caloundra. I don’t know why that is, but I don’t seem to be in as much pain riding around there.

Perhaps it is because it is a big roomy track and there is not so much hustle and bustle. I’m only guessing on that one.

Perhaps it’s to do with the travelling that’s required to go to other venues. I know when I’d wake up after doing a lot of travelling I would be very stiff the next day. Even when I was walking off the plane sometimes it was quite stiff and sore ... so I’m trying to limit that a little bit if I can but, given the demands on your schedule sometimes, that is not always easy to do.

I certainly don’t want to do as much travelling as I have done in the past if I can help it but if the right opportunities come along it is hard to say no.

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I have been involved with Buffering in his build-up to the Moir. I rode Buffering in both of his jump-outs and in his last exhibition gallop at Doomben.

He wasn’t the Buff of old when I rode him in his first jump-out, but he has had a tendency to do that in other campaigns as well, so it wasn’t panic-stations at all ... and I was quite happy to see him take good improvement into his second trial where he trialled very well.

He pulled up well there and he even looks better in the coat. He seems to have really come on.

I know Rob (Heathcote) has been very happy with him the last couple of weeks and I’ve certainly seen the improvement in him which suggests that we are on the right track.

We obviously won’t know until tonight but it does appear that things are moving in the right direction.

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While we all know how competitive Buffering is, it is nevertheless quite difficult to ascertain where to fix the expectation level as he comes out for the first time as an eight-year-old.

I mean he is running against horses that weren’t even born when he was already strutting his stuff.

Buffering’s biggest asset has always been his will to win and that’s why we’ll all be crossing our fingers that he has come back with that will intact.

He has got a great record in the race. He won it last year, beating Lankan Rupee, and he also won it two years before that when Hugh Bowman rode him.

In-between those wins he finished second to Samaready so I guess you can say Moonee Valley suits his style of racing.

They seem to put the pressure on a long way out and it takes a while for those back-markers to wind up. He’s quite often got a length or two on them on straightening and then he just toughs it out.

Whatever the outcome at Moonee Valley I’ll be stuck in Melbourne for the night. The Moir only jumps at 9.45pm and unfortunately you can’t get out of Melbourne airport after about nine o’clock at night ... so it will be an early flight back for me on Saturday morning to take my place in the first at Doomben at 12.25.

What was that I said about not wanting to travel so much!

Till next week.

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