Jake Noonan to make return at Mornington
Almost four months after breaking his leg in a race fall, Group One-winning jockey Jake Noonan is ready to return to race riding.
Noonan has three rides at Thursday’s Mornington meeting including two horses trained by his father Tony.
Noonan claimed his first Group One win in May aboard Precious Gem in the Robert Sangster Stakes in Adelaide, but later that month fractured the tibia and fibula in his left leg in a fall at Pakenham.
He returned to trackwork in late August.
“Body-wise I’m feeling good. I’m feeling fit,” he said at Caulfield trackwork on Tuesday.
“Obviously we’re not going to know until I’m putting it under the raceday pressure, but everything is ticking over pretty good.
“I think the best rehab work I’ve been doing is the trackwork. That’s where I’ve found I’ve got my most strength and fitness back. I’ve been doing a lot of hydrotherapy and physiotherapy, but the trackwork I feel has been the most beneficial.
“It feels as though I’m ready to get back to the races now. I’ve had an ideal preparation to do so.
“Physically I’ve been exercising a lot more in my free time at home. Just trying to build myself up towards peak fitness.
“I’ve got no hesitation in returning to the races, but a lot of the fitness is going to come from riding in the races.”
Noonan acknowledged it was a tricky time to be coming back, with the spring carnival hotting up.
“Hopefully I can just find some support I had before the fall and go from there,” he said.
“I don’t expect to be riding in Group One races from the word go, but if I kick off and get my eye back in and get the momentum going, I’m sure I’ll hopefully find a nice horse along the way somewhere.”