MATTHEW PALMER BACK IN ACTION

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Jockey Matthew Palmer was back in action at Murwillumbah on Monday. It was the rider’s first taste of competitive action since the being unceremoniously dumped from the mare Use To Be A Dancer shortly after the start of the fourth race at Eagle Farm on July 18.

The injuries Palmer suffered in the fall kept him out of the saddle for a little over three months.

Matthew Palmer: “The fall happened in July ... just over three months ago. I had three fractured ribs on the right hand side and a torn supraspinatus tendon in the shoulder. I knew I had broken ribs straight away. The shoulder ... I had no idea what was wrong, but I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t breathe initially. I remember lying on the track and then next minute I remember waking up in hospital.

“The ribs were sort of healed within a six week period. The shoulder is the part that took time. It was a tear, but it wasn’t bad enough to have surgery, so it just had to heal in its own time. I just had to wait it out. It’s good to be back.”

Palmer first ride at Murwillumbah was a pick-up ride in the opening event on the card. He replaced the indisposed Michael Hellyer on the Stephen Jones trained Trigon. The grey mare finished unplaced.

One race later, in his first scheduled ride for the day, Palmer came back a winner aboard the Gerald Ryan trained Play A King, who cruised home by a clear-cut two length margin.

Palmer has three rides at Ipswich on Thursday.

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