NO GLASSHOUSE HAT-TRICK BID FOR LARRY CASSIDY

By Graham Potter | Friday, July 5, 2024

Larry Cassidy has ridden the last two winners of the Glasshouse Handicap, but the multiple Group 1 winning rider will not be attempting to land a straight hat trick of wins in the Glasshouse at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

Cassidy has, in fact, been out of action through injury for the last seven months having last seen race action when he partnered Irish Songs in the Tatts Recognition back on November 25.

Ironically, Irish Songs was the horse that Cassidy rode to victory in last year’s edition of the Glasshouse when he completed the Glasshouse double after having also won the race aboard Le Gai Soleil the previous year. (Irish Songs is back for a crack at a Glasshouse double of his own on Saturday).

It has been a horrible fifteen months for Cassidy since his spate of injury setbacks began last April. Put simply, there has been no easy road back thus far for Cassidy, in any shape or form, and that road continues to wind on in an unpredictable manner to an as yet uncertain destination ... and it is all to do with a figure injury.

“To think it is all about a bloody finger,” said Cassidy with the frustration of this long drawn out and still unfinished saga coming through in his comment.

“When I went in for the first surgery the doctor said there was a chance they might have to chop the finger off. If they had chopped it off, I would have been back riding, but obviously the first goal is to save the finger.

“The surgeon did say it was the worst finger fracture you could ever have and that it is very rare that he sees that type of fracture.

“It’s been eleven weeks now since the second operation,” continued Cassidy. “In another three weeks I see the surgeon again ... so that will be fourteen weeks.
“I have physio three times a week which means I have will have had just over forty physio appointments during that time.

“Has my finger bent more? Yes, it has.

“Has my finger bent enough to race ride? No, it hasn’t.

“Does the prognosis suggest it can get to bend enough?

“It possibly could ... but it will never bend like did.

“Is it very painful? Yes, it is ... and that pain factor is very much in play.

“There is pain when I try to bend it. I can’t hold it ... I can’t hold that position for more ... well, let’s just say if I could hold it for ten seconds I’d be doing very well. Then, when I release it, the pain coming out is just as bad, and, because everything’s connected in the hand, that goes for the other fingers on my left hand as well.

“I can’t even hold a fist for ten seconds ... and that’s just holding a fist by myself without a horse pulling and with a couple of hundred kilos pressing back at you.

“That makes it difficult ... no, I would say impossible, for me to be able to hold the reins and control a horse right now.

“Even if the finger improved and I got there, I would have to ride work for six to eight weeks before I could even consider going to a race-day ... and I can’t come back to track-work until I’m ready to do the job, because I can’t be bolting for three laps. Who wants a jockey who can’t control a horse in trackwork?

“I have struggled a bit mentally, with it” admitted Cassidy. “It hasn’t been easy.

“Everybody says ... ‘stay positive, stay positive’, but when I leave the physio and the physio has said ‘you are doing very well’ but my hand is still in so much pain, all it does is get you down more. It is very difficult to stay positive when I’m leaving there in awful pain and I haven’t been able to bend my finger much further.

“Sometimes when I am struggling mentally, I do think ... why bother ... but, obviously I still hope that I can turn it around because I want to get back riding.

“While I try to keep myself motivated, it is difficult when I walk out in pain like that.

“It’s certainly not looking ideal is it ... and every time I go through that I walk out and think ... is this it? Every time I see the end of my career as coming closer.

“Look, I do know it has to come to and end sooner than later now, I’m fifty-four today ... and up until all this injury after injury started, my body was in pretty good shape.

“I know with age, my career has to come to an end, but this is just an awful way for it to come to an end if that is what happens. Everybody wants to go out on their own terms.

"For now though, I'm going to keep pushing on."
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Read the full and detailed back story of Cassidy’s injury plagued recent past here:

THAT'S NOT A BROKEN FINGER. THIS IS A BROKEN FINGER! ANOTHER SETBACK FOR LARRY CASSIDY

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