Ellis eyes return after collarbone injury

Veteran jockey Shane Ellis said he is anxious to return to the saddle, as he continues his recovery from a broken collarbone injury, which he sustained last November.

Ellis told The Sunday Gleaner that the injury has not been healing as fast as he anticipated, but hopes he will be able to make a return to the saddle by the end of the month.

“It (recovery) has been coming on good, but it is a bit slow because a younger person would have healed a lot faster than a much older person,” said 47-year-old Ellis.

“I am not healing as fast as I expected, but I just have to give God thanks that I can move around and I can move my hand,” added Ellis, who is expecting to commence exercise work at the track in the coming week.

“I am going to start exercising horses sometime next week and, hopefully, will be riding at the end of the month,” Ellis noted.

Ellis picked up the injury after just returning to the saddle from a five-day suspension for breaching the Jamaica Racing Commission’s betting rules.

A two-time former champion jockey, Ellis has ridden more than 1,200 winners at Caymanas Park. He underscored that his main focus this year is to win a lot of races, which will translate into him capturing the third jockey’s championships of his career.

“The aim for me is to get started riding as well as I did before the setback and, hopefully, winning a lot more races,” he said. “I am looking towards winning as much races as I can, and at the end of the day, if the jockey’s championship comes, then I will take it.”

Ellis, who is also the president of the Jamaica Jockeys’ Guild, added that the standard of riding among local jockeys has improved a lot over the past six months, and urged the jockeys to continue in this vein.

“I think that riding has improved a lot among the jockeys and I am happy to see that they are looking much better, and so I am glad for that, because this will help the racing a whole lot in the future,” he added.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com