Jockey's comeback: 'I like my riding... and I'm still here'
"When you get to my age you start to think is it going to be too hard to come back. Once you get to my age it's so easy to lose your fitness."
Jamie Searle is a long-time Southland racing writer. For more of his work head to the Southland Thoroughbreds Facebook page.
Riverton Cup-winning jockey Terry Moseley says his passion for riding helped him through a four-and-a-half-month injury break this season.
His comeback to racing reached a new peak yesterday when he won the Kennedy Building-sponsored Riverton Cup aboard Prince Alby. The western
Southland feature race had been eluding him over the years but that changed yesterday - nearly two months after getting back in the race day saddle.
Moseley, of Christchurch, was out of action with a broken bone in an ankle and doctors told him he could be away from riding for six to nine months.
He was grateful to return in four and a half months.
"When they told me six to nine months, I sort of thought that could be career ending," Moseley, 56, said.
"It takes a bit of preparation, mentally and physically, to overcome that."
The thought of a hard road ahead didn't consume the horseman. Fortunately, he didn't put on weight while on the sideline.
"When you get to my age you start to think is it going to be too hard to come back. Once you get to my age it's so easy to lose your fitness."
"You've got to want to do it and I wanted to do it - I like my riding . . . and I'm still here."
Meanwhile, Riverton trainer Kelvin Tyler part-owns Riverton Cup winner Prince Alby with wife Vanessa. It was Kelvin's third win in the Cup following Our Boy Ritchie (2021) and Lil Miss Swiss (2019).
"There's nothing like winning your hometown Cup - it's a big thrill," he said.
He plans to race Prince Alby in the North Island, beginning with the $120,000 Hawke's Bay Cup at Otaki on April 13.
Riverton Racing Club president Trevor Brown said this morning he was not sure of the total betting turnover for on and off course but expected it to be about $1.7 million, which is good.
Brown and other club officials were on track this morning [Sunday] moving the running rail out three metres, from the 800m to about the 380m, for tomorrow's second day of racing.
"It's actually quite good, it didn't cut up very much at all," Brown said of the track.
The track was a Heavy 10 yesterday and had remained at that rating this morning.
"Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. There were no major issues," Brown said of yesterday's race day.
"We had a lot of people driving off the road that had never been to the races here before just to see what was going on . . . they enjoyed themselves.
“We're back into it tomorrow [Monday].”