Queensland apprentice Ruby Ride has taken another successful step in her extraordinary comeback from when she was "split in two'' and surgeons told her she would never ride again.
The 25-year-old Toowoomba-based jockey shattered her pelvis in 2015 when her mount Zippity Zou reared up in the Ipswich mounting yard and fell on top of her.
Ride's surgeon described her pelvis fracture as the worst he had seen in a person her age and likened the injury to one you might expect to find in someone hit by a truck.
The promising apprentice had more than 12 months of agonising rehabilitation but defied the advice from surgeons that she would never ride again.
At Doomben on Saturday she rode two winners when High Cost ($10) and Sweet Repeat ($51) gave her an early double.
It was another sweet day for the jockey who has been through hell and back.
"I was split in two when that horse flipped over and crushed me," Ride said.
"I had 12 pins and three plates in my pelvis.
"I was having a lot of pain just walking and the surgeons said I would not ride again.
"But I have proved them wrong until this point.
"I have to ride uneven and I have to be careful with doing too much trackwork because there is still a lot of pain there."
Ride was in the wars again recently when she had a fall at Doomben and her mount crashed through the inside running rail.
As she tried to return to ride, she failed three concussion tests and missed a winning ride on Cornrow.
"I just couldn't pass the concussion test and I was a bit disappointed when Cornrow ended up winning," Ride said.
"But given my injury history, I am probably lucky just to be walking. I have no complaints."
It was a memorable day for another Queensland apprentice with former McDonald's burger flipper Jag Guthmann-Chester riding his first Saturday metropolitan winner when Stanley ($4.40 fav) took out the Benchmark75 Handicap (2200m).
The 18-year-old wants to win the metropolitan apprentice title and he will have every chance with plenty of trainers keen to use his three kilogram claim.
"I hope I am in for a good season and it is great timing to start the new season with a three-kilo claim," Guthmann-Chester said.
