Wilson targets November return to race riding
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson is projecting a November return to competition after going to the sidelines due to a spill here Sept. 8. Wilson sustained a broken left clavicle and hand fractures when she fell hard onto the turf course.
“Surgery was performed on the clavicle, a fairly routine fixation that went extremely well,” Wilson said. “I’m about three weeks post-op now and have started [physiotherapy]. My right hand didn’t require surgery. It’s just a matter of letting it heal, and then the strength should return rather rapidly. Things are progressing quite nicely. I’m hoping for an early November return. To put an exact date on it is difficult. The goal is to [ride] for six weeks until the end of the season.”
Wilson, 38, was in the midst of one of her better years before the accident. She currently ranks sixth in the Woodbine standings, with 49 wins from 341 mounts, including six stakes victories.
Wilson missed the first three months of the 2018 meet after breaking her arm in a training accident.
“I’ve been lucky,” Wilson said. “I’ve been riding for almost 15 years now, and I’ve only had a couple of really serious injures. I have no intention of retiring.”
Balding no stranger at Woodbine
Not many English trainers have had more success at Woodbine during this century than Andrew Balding, who won the 2017 E.P. Taylor Stakes with Blond Me, the 2005 Play the King Stakes with Vanderlin, and the 2005 Wonder Where Stakes with Silver Highlight.
Most notably, Balding sent out Phoenix Reach to win the Grade 1 Canadian International in 2003. He will try to win the 1 1/2-mile turf event for the second time Saturday with the talented but inconsistent Pivoine.
“Obviously, it was a great thrill to win the race with Phoenix Reach in 2003,” Balding said. “I have been lucky enough to win the E.P. Taylor, Wonder Where Stakes, and the Play the King Stakes, so Woodbine has been a happy hunting ground in the past.”
Pivoine’s lone triumph in eight starts this year came when he carried 134 pounds in a 1 5/16-mile handicap on July 13 at York.
Pivoine subsequently finished fifth in the Grade 1 Arlington Million and then returned to England to finish ninth in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton. He’s coming off a second behind last year’s Canadian International victor, Desert Encounter, in the Group 3 Legacy Cup at Newbury.
“He’s in great form at home, better than he was for the Arlington Million,” said Madeline O’Meara, an assistant to Balding. “We’re really happy with him.”
Robert Hornby, who was aboard for Pivoine’s two best performances this year, has the mount on the 5-year-old gelding on Saturday.