THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: D BROWNE'S 'PAINFUL AND ANNOYING' SLOW ROAD TO RECOVERY

By Graham Potter | Friday, August 17, 2018

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

The Sunshine Coast’s champion jockey Damian Browne has now been sidelined with injury for just under a month.

Back in July Browne was riding work when a horse threw its head up, hit Browne in the face and, in his own words, “pretty well smashed my nose.”

“I thought I might have cracked my cheekbone as well,” said Browne taking up the story, “but, once the swelling went down, I hadn’t. I went to the doctor and then I had to go to an ear, nose and mouth specialist which I did the following week. He booked me in for surgery straight away."

That surgery took place ten days ago.

“At the moment I’ve something like stents in my nose. I’m hoping to get them out when I visit the surgeon for a follow-up appointment and update this week,” added Browne.

“It’s quite painful and very annoying.’

This ‘one step at a time’ procedure means that no date can even be tentatively pencilled in for Browne’s return to action.

Adding to Browne’s frustration is the fact that a cloud hangs over his immediate riding future, even when fully fit, as he awaits the outcome of his appeal over a controversial two-month riding suspension following a handling inquiry.

“A lot of people probably think I would be better off taking that suspension while I was injured and out anyway but it is not really about the time and the money it is costing … it is more about clearing my name,” explained Browne.

“It would have been the easy way and the cheaper way to take the time but I’d rather clear my name. That’s very important to me.

“The internal review of my suspension has been completed and that appeal failed. I have now launched an appeal through QCAT. I am just waiting for that to go through the process which, as we all know, could be any time from next week to next year … which is once again frustrating but, like the speed of my recovery, it is out of my hands.”

For several seasons Browne has enjoyed a regular stream of winners at Sunshine Coast meetings where he has been a ‘punter’s friend’ in terms of his strike rate at the track.

Unfortunately for them, with Browne still fighting a battle on two fronts, the ‘business as usual’ sign is still on hold.

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