IT never rains but it pours!
The pain Anna Roper felt from being kicked by a horse last Wednesday would have been even worse from the results at Canterbury on Friday night.
The talented Wyong apprentice, whose career has been punctuated by injuries, returned to the saddle only on November 2 after being sidelined since winning on Yendy for trainer Ciaron Maher at Hawkesbury on July 21.
She had ridden seven placegetters and missed out breaking through again, having been booked for the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton stablemates Captain Amelia ($4.60) and Inquiring Minds ($3.20), both winners at Canterbury.
Fellow provincial apprentices Ben Osmond (Newcastle) and Zac Wadick (Hawkesbury) were the beneficiaries of Roper’s misfortune; the former winning on Captain Amelia and Wadick on Inquiring Minds.
Roper is nursing a sore right ankle from a freakish incident at Wyong on Wednesday morning.
“Anna was cantering on one of Kristen Buchanan’s horses when another horse beside her cow kicked and delivered a painful blow to her ankle,” Roper’s master, trainer Damien Lane, said on Saturday morning.
“She is having shocking luck.
“Thankfully there doesn’t appear to be a break, and she was walking on the leg this morning.
“Anna will have an MRI on Monday just to be sure there is nothing serious.
“At this stage it doesn’t look as though she will be out of the saddle for too long.
“Anna had rides for me at Taree on Sunday, and it would have been a terrific kick-start for her if she had been able to ride that double at Canterbury.
“Still she is a resilient young woman who will put this latest injury behind her and get going again.”
Roper rode a winner (Alpha Go at Gundagai on April 3, 2022) at her debut ride, and has since tallied another 130.
Undoubtedly that figure would have been even higher but for the time she has spent out of the saddle, but still managed to win the Rising Star Series for apprentice jockeys last season.
. Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle posted his 19th winner of the season when Celestial Fury scored at the Canterbury meeting.
Ridden by Tim Clark, Celestial Fury ($6) took the Benchmark 72 Handicap (1900m).
The Savabeel six-year-old, who began his career in Victoria, was having his fourth start this preparation.
Story John Curtis, November 16, 2024 - Pics Bradley Photos
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