SYDNEY - Injured expatriate New Zealand jockey Jim Cassidy was an interested but frustrated observer at yesterday's Rosehill barrier trials, revealing he was still at least a month away from a return.
The top-class hoop broke an ankle and suffered medial ligament damage to a knee after beingthrown to the turf at Eagle Farm on June 11 when his mount Bonza Crop snapped a leg halfway up the straight.
He was hoping to be back riding towards the end of this month but said his knee was not healing as quickly as anticipated.
"I go back to the surgeon on Monday to see how the knee is but it's not that flash at the moment," Cassidy said. "I've got to get back to trackwork and then to riding in a few trials first so I'm roughly looking at a month to six weeks.
"It's a bit slower than I thought to be honest, especially when the nice horses are coming back and I'm missing out, but at least I've got my health."
Cassidy is one of an elite group of riders to have won racing's grand slam of the Golden Slipper, Cox Plate and Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
While he hasn't ridden for two months he has kept his finger on the pulse and been a regular at trackwork for the past couple of weeks.
Yesterday's trials held particular interest for him due to the presence of the Ron Maund-trained Gold Edition who he formed a strong partnership with during the autumn and winter.
"I just came out here to see how Gold Edition goes," Cassidy said.
"I'm keeping an eye on things. I've been coming out (to trackwork) for the last fortnight, it keeps your eye in.
Gold Edition, ridden by Justin Sheehan in the 900m trial, looked strong in cruising to a 2-length win and her time of 53.98sec was the quickest of the morning. Cassidy has ridden the iron mare seven times for four wins and three placings.
