Allpress makes winning return
It’s been a testing last couple of years for champion jockey Lisa Allpress, who has been sidelined by injuries, but she made a winning return to the saddle on Saturday when partnering the Kevin Myers-trained He’s Lucid (NZ) (Contributer) to victory at Hawera.
Two years ago, Allpress suffered a broken vertebra in her lower back following a fall at Riccarton Park, and while she returned to raceday riding a few months later, her comeback was short lived, with the senior hoop involved in a pre-race incident at Trentham in January last year where her mount reared up and fell over on her leg, breaking it in three places.
It has been a long, painful and frustrating road for Allpress over the last 18 months, but her dogged determination and support from family and friends has led her through those dark times, which included five operations.
“The first surgery went well, they put a rod in my leg and some screws, but about eight weeks later they knew it wasn’t really healing properly, it was still giving me quite a bit of pain, so they went in and took some screws out,” Allpress said.
“They said I should be able to walk out of the hospital without crutches and about six weeks after that I still couldn’t bear weight on it, I was still on crutches.
“They went in again and took the rod and pins out and put a plate in and they put a nerve block in my leg when they put that plate in, but the nerve block didn’t work, so when I woke up I was screaming in agony because I was in so much pain, so they had to put me out and redo the nerve block in my leg.
“They said that was good and I could be back on a horse within six weeks, my surgeon and doctors knew how much I wanted to be back riding, but it didn’t really come right and it was still giving me a bit of pain, and another x-ray showed that the fracture still hadn’t come together properly.
“I went to a leg trauma specialist in Wellington, and he works on a lot of athletes, and he decided to put another plate on the other side of it, and since I have had that plate I have felt the healing start to happen, and that wasn’t until the end of February this year.”
While Allpress had four surgeries on her leg, she also had another to remove rods from her back, which were put in place following her back injury.
“Just before my last leg surgery they decided to take the rods out and see if that would alleviate some of the back pain,” Allpress said. “I could feel some of the rods in my back, so whenever I bent over it was really quite restricting.”
Prior to her last two surgeries, Allpress couldn’t resist hopping on the back of a horse on her Whanganui farm, which further spurred her determination to return to riding.
“In early January, it was a really nice day at home and I have got a couple of old retired racehorses and I said to Karl (husband), ‘I am going to hop on this horse today’, so I got down there and saddled them up and waited until he (Karl) came down and I launched myself off the fence because at that point I couldn’t handle jumping up or getting a leg up. It was good to get back on him and ride around, it was pretty emotional that day.”
Following her successful surgery in February, Allpress has been focused on her rehab, and she said she has an amazing team around her, including a physio and massage therapist.
“I have had a lot of rehab,” she said. “There have been a lot of days at physio to basically learn to walk again. I am still doing physio and the physio I see is phenomenal.
“I have got a really amazing massage therapist called Paul, and he has kept ticking me over. I am also doing quite a bit of acupuncture on my back and legs, and that is really helping to keep that blood flow.”
Swimming has also been an integral part of Allpress’ recovery.
“I have done a lot of swimming, I have been going to the pool as soon as my stitches have cleaned up and my wound was okay, and that really helped mentally as well as physically because I just couldn’t do anything and I was getting so frustrated,” she said.
Allpress made solid progress and returned to riding in April, initially on her own farm before she ventured out to ride track work for several trainers.
“I had an old hack at home that a friend had lent me, a hunter, so I was riding him and then I spoke to Dan O’Leary and he has got his own track, so it was very easy for me to go out there and ride an old, retired horse around his track and get the feeling back in my legs,” Allpress said. “It has been all go from there.
“Dan was really good to me and I went up to Waverley and rode some quiet ones around Bill Thurlow’s track and then I went down to Mr (Kevin) Gray’s and rode a couple of horses for him, which was really nice. I have had so much support from Mr Gray and Stephen (Gray), they have been fantastic.
“I ran into Ange Illston at the races at Wanganui one day and they are only 20 minutes down the road so I said I should come down and see how my leg feels going around their track, so I have been going around to Kevin (Myers) and Angela’s to ride.”
With her riding progressing well, Allpress had circled August 1 on the calendar as her return date to raceday riding, but a chance meeting at Trentham earlier this month brought that target forward.
“I was always going to come back for the new season and just on a whim I booked my flights for August 1 for the Winter Cup (Gr.3, 1600m, at Riccarton),” Allpress said. “One day some flights came up on my phone from Palmy to Christchurch that looked cheap and I laughingly said to Karl, ‘August 1, I have made the decision’.
“I was then at the races at the jumps day down at Wellington a week or so ago and Peter McKay offered me the ride on Spencer in the Opunake Cup (Listed, 1400m, July 18) and I thought ‘why not?’.
“I asked a couple of people and some friends, and Leah Hemi said to me ‘if you are going to ride in the Opunake Cup, you need to ride before that and get a bit fit’. I rode seven horses last Friday morning and I thought if I could ride seven at the track I could probably ride a couple at the races.”
Allpress then identified Hawera’s meeting on Saturday as her comeback meeting, and booked two rides – He’s Lucid for Kevin Myers in the CLAAS Harvest Centre Taranaki (1400m) and Opaea Joe for Gavin Opie in the Weir Tours (1200m).
She understandably had a few nerves prior to the meeting but said they were allayed somewhat when entering the jockeys’ room.
“By the time I got to the races I was pretty shaky, I was nervous, but once I started getting my gear ready and had the usual comradery in the jockeys’ room and had a few laughs, I settled down,” Allpress said.
Allpress made the perfect start to her comeback when guiding He’s Lucid to victory in her first ride back, and she was rapt to get the win for Myers and said the win has assisted in settling her nerves ahead of next Saturday’s Opunake Cup.
“I can head to the races next week and feel a whole lot more settled,” Allpress said.
Allpress has been thankful for the support she has received from family and friends, and the wider racing fraternity, during her recovery, particularly last year when her husband also underwent surgery.
“In amongst all of that, last year Karl got two new knees, so there were times when we had people coming around and dropping off meals because both of us were on crutches and recently out of surgery,” Allpress said. “It was a pretty hard year.”
Through Allpress’ long road to recovery, she hasn’t lost her passion for riding, and while she is aware of the fear many of her close friends and family have about her return, she is content with her decision to return to the saddle.
“I just love riding horses and I love riding racehorses, there is nothing better than pottering around on them at home or at the stables, working out how they like to be ridden and what their little traits are,” Allpress said.
“It is a passion and I love it. I get out to Kevin’s (Myers) and he’s like ‘you want to do another one?’, and I am like ‘I will do another two’, I just love it. A few times Ange has said ‘that’s enough, you are not doing any more’. The mind and heart are very willing, but the body has got to catch up.
“Everyone has been so amazing, and my family has just been out the gate. They know how determined I am and that it is my decision (to return to riding), but they are extremely worried about me. So many people don’t want to see me get hurt again, so it is hard to carry their fear. I really appreciate all the support from people both in and out of the industry, it has been phenomenal.”
A return to stakes racing is now top of mind for Allpress, who said she has a busy week ahead of partnering Spencer in the Opunake Cup, and she is hopeful she can improve on their runner-up effort in 2024 when Spencer was trained by Erin Hocquard.
“Tomorrow (Monday) I will ride track work and then I will probably end up at the gym or the swimming pool tomorrow afternoon, and then I have got trials on Tuesday,” Allpress said. “I will probably have to have rehab and a massage on Thursday, my body just takes a long time to recover if I do too much still.”
As for the Winter Cup, the flights are booked but Allpress has yet to lock in a ride, however, she already has some rides on the undercard in the works.
“I haven’t got a Winter Cup ride yet,” she said. “I spoke with David Walsh the other day and I think he has got a couple of nice ones that may be kicking off that day, so I could have a couple of rides there, we will just see what happens.”
