Champion jockey Blake Shinn returns with several favourites at Flemington on Saturday, including Group 1-winning War Machine in the Aurie Star Stakes.
It is like nothing has changed. Like time had stood still since his fall on Melbourne Cup day, which resulted in a compound fracture of his leg.
But Shinn has had time to find out more about industry, and watched as his partner Lucy Yeomans started her successful training business.
“I got to see things from the other side as Lucy started her business in the past nine months,” Shinn said.
“I have a real appreciation for it from the other side of the sport. I have seen what the ground staff do and what a trainer goes through, it has been eye-opening.”
Shinn has been back to what he does best for the past couple of months, building his riding fitness for the first day of the new season.
“Coming back, I hadn’t lost my feel for the animal, but you build that riding fitness,” Shinn said.
“That has taken time, but I’m very happy with how I feel going back to the races.
“I could have been out for a lot longer with the injury, but I sped up the recovery as much as I could, but from a mental side of things, Lucy is big help.”
Shinn’s voice softens when he talks of his partner with respect and love. It has made Shinn’s path back easier in a way because he is part of a team.
He talks of helping get Changing Colours ready for her recent breakthrough win at Flemington, but it is what Yeomans means to him that matters.
“She is still the same person, a really good woman, who is in my corner – win, lose or draw,” Shinn said.
“She just gets me, which is a really good feeling.
“We have been together for nearly three years and she knows me better than I know myself sometimes.
“If I have to cut weight or study for a race, she can be there, and we might not talk for hours.
“But she’s there.
“That’s what it’s been through my recovery, I have been there for her a bit as she started the business.”
Shinn returns on the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Nearco Frod, which is looking for a hat-trick of wins, in the first race of the new season and also has been trusted with carnival-bound Touchdown and War Machine by the Hayes brothers.
“It is great to get that support,” he said. “I’m back up where I left off.
“I’m going to work hard and ride at Flemington then Sandown and Pakenham.
“I want to get back to riding winners, but it is just good to be back.”
