Bathurst reinswoman Emma Turnbull 'bounced' back into the sulky last week.
Emma Turnbull knows only too well the highs and lows this sport can dish out to participants.
But she admits nothing can prepare you for situations like she has endured over the past four months.
In mid-July, Emma sustained a broken pelvis in a fall at Young and it has been a long recovery period for the talented driver.
“It was a pretty simple incident really,” said Emma.
“We had just come out of the gate and had only travelled about 100 metres when a horse to my inside hung out and got under my gig, tipping me out and I landed heavily on the track.”
While all that drama might not have been forgotten, Emma was pleased to be back in the gig last Wednesday night to partner one of her favourites, Tuapeka Glory, who himself was making a comeback to racing after fracturing two bones in a leg and had not been sighted since December, 2019.
“It was a relief for both of us to get through that race last week,” she said.
“It was just great to be back after such a nasty injury and long rehabilitation process.
“You could say we are both on the comeback trail.”
Turnbull was pleased with Tuapeka Glory’s effort to finish second behind Maximus Red in a driving finish, beaten by less than two metres.
“I was happy with his run first-up,” she said.
“He found the line well and I am sure that with a few more runs under his belt here in the bush, he will be right to head back into town and have a crack at winning a metropolitan race.
“Our short-term plan is race him out here to gauge how he stands up to things.
“He has won more than $70,000 and it would be nice if he could crack the $100,000 mark.”
Turnbull pointed out that it was a good time of the year to have the horses performing well with feature race meetings coming up at Bathurst, Parkes and Dubbo.
“Mum [Wendy] and Jason have had a good run of success while I was sidelined. They have worked hard to achieve that,” she said.
