Bryony Frost has already turned her focus on next season after her current campaign was ended by injuries sustained in a fall at Aintree.
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The Betfair ambassador is still to learn the full extent of the shoulder injury but a back problem has also been identified following a scan.
She told Betfair: "As many of you will have seen by now, I’m not going to make it back to race at Sandown at the weekend, and just how long I'll be sidelined for is still up in the air We need the full detail of the injuries to be collected and assessed, and then they can give me a timeframe and I can start to make tracks to recover peak performance.
"Twice before I’ve won my race against time to be back from injury for the last day of the season, and Iast year I had one of the best days of my career there as I won the Oaksey Chase on Frodon and the Celebration Chase on Greaneteen. Not this time though.
"It's no secret that my season has been tough at times, but my 43 winners included two Grade 1 wins, and they were both the kind of real buzz moments which are unmatched.
"Unfortunately the fall at Aintree came hot on the heels of hitting the ground hard at Ayr the previous week. They were two big falls, and although it's part and parcel of being a jockey they are never easy to take.
"As a professional athlete you know when your body is in peak condition, and equally you know when it’s trying to tell you something isn’t right. The hunger to race is nearly an instinct and it pushes you on, but when you have those 10 minutes by yourself at the end of day you know that if your body is not 100%, with all guns blazing for you, you've no chance to achieve the results you want.
"The question of whether you are sore, or you have what I call that sharp kind of pain which signifies something more serious can be foggy when that hunger gets in the way, so it isn't always that simple.
"I’ve had vertebrae injuries before, and I knew what I was feeling wasn’t right. The original scans at Liverpool weren’t telling the full story, so I had an MRI scan done in London at the end of last week which give a more detailed picture of the bone.
"Those images have shown I have a stable fracture in a single vertebrae, along with an area of bone bruising. We haven't really got to the bottom of my shoulder injury either, so I'm going back to see my specialist Geoff Graham, who will evaluate it alongside Dr Jerry Hill of the BHA. It’s only then that I’ll know exactly what I have to heal, what I can do to do to help it, and how long the body needs to recover.
"The fun part of injury is getting back to full strength and fitness and I’m already turning my attention to next season - and by that I don’t mean next Monday, when the new season starts officially! I’m focusing on the teams I’ll be riding for and the horses I can look forward to, and I’m determined to hit the ground running and deliver for them in 2022-23."
When we know more I’ll be going to Oaksey House and devising a plan with the phsyios there, but I'll also be hoping to do plenty at home. One thing I'll be doing is creating an indoor gym - with a serious sound system obviously! - and I'm also ready to sacrifice part of the back garden for an exercise area and a small current pool, which will sadden dad as he loves the little lawn I have here!
If you aren’t familiar with current pools, they are basically stretch jacuzzis which create a current for you to swim against. You don’t go anywhere, so they aren’t very big, but they are great for fitness. I’m told Adam Peaty has one in his garden, and you couldn’t get a better recommendation than that!
I’ve always said it’s easy to get to a good level of fitness but a lot harder to get from good to very good. I don’t really do weights, because I think my body is working hard enough already when I’m riding throughout the season, but stretching, yoga and pilates have always been a big part of my regime.
I need to take it up a gear now, and getting to that higher level, both physically and mentally, is a big project. I’m particularly excited about the prospect of a current pool.
In the short term though I’m probably going to take myself away for a week or two once I’ve seen Geoff Graham again, because an essential part of the healing process is having a relaxed mind. The way I see it, if your head isn’t in the right place, your body won’t heal properly. The physical rehab will start after that - gently to begin with, and then gradually building it up.
As I’ve said, it’s been tough, but there’s been one bit of light - or two if you count last week’s 27th birthday. Seeing my brother Hadden for the first time in more than two years, and getting to meet his fiancee Bethany at last, was class.
