After eight days in hospital trainer Hannah Roach is back at home in Cheshire recuperating from back and rib injuries.
Roach, 22, who saddled a four-timer on the opening day of the season, broke her T7 and T8 vertebrae and cracked ribs when one of her stable stars, Iskandar Pecos, tripped and fell when a bandage came loose while on the gallops.
Speaking from her home, Roach (pictured above) said she had been released from Stoke Hospital late on Thursday and acknowledged she now faced a slow return to full fitness. She said: “Initially I went to my local Leighton Hospital, but when they saw the T8 was unstable they told me not to move and I was driven to Stoke. The following day I underwent a four-and-a-half hour operation to put rods and screws from the T5 to the T11.
“To be honest my ribs hurt more than my back, but I’ve had some physio and it’s just going to take time. They say it will be six to eight weeks for the bone to heal and it will be three months before I can even begin to think of lifting anything heavy or getting on a horse.”
Roach said her mentor, Joe O’Shea, is “holding the fort with help from Huw [Edwards, the stable’s jockey] and Laura,”. The yard could be taking up to three runners to Hexham on Sunday week.
She added: “It’s ironic, because Pecos is the safest horse in the yard. He wasn’t himself for a while afterwards – Joe says the sparkle has gone out of his eye and he’s missing me. The horse is my pride and joy and I’m having him fully checked over by the vet today, just in case there’s anything underlying.
“It’s been tough at times over the past week. You’re on your own in hospital and think about what might have happened. I felt very down at one point, but rang Joe and said ‘I need to see him [Iskandar Pecos] – show me a picture’.”