3 minute read

Already out of the saddle for more than a year, Martin Dwyer is set to undergo further surgery next month as he bids to return from a knee injury.

The 47-year-old Derby-winning jockey was injured in a fall when riding out for Brian Meehan last March.

Dwyer severely twisted his knee when a leather iron broke and he suffered a torn ACL.

"I'm just waiting for my operation on April 24. The operation is not severe, it is just to take out scar tissue and see what the problem is, because the knee just won't bend. It keeps flaring up," said Dwyer.

"I'm in Oaksey House (rehabilitation centre in Lambourn) doing everything I can, but the injury has just plateaued and we just can't move forward.

"The original injury, the ligaments, have healed nicely, which is the main thing, but I can't get it to bend and take weight properly."

Dwyer, who won the 2006 Derby aboard Sir Percy for Marcus Tregoning, missed out on the winning ride aboard the Willie Muir and Chris Grassick-trained Pyledriver in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer.

Any thoughts of retirement have been put on the back-burner for the time being, however.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Even if I'm not riding again, even getting back to normal life, I'm going to have to keep going through the same procedure," he added.

"I've just got to throw the kitchen sink at rehab and get my knee right. Once I have my leg right, I will make decisions from there."

The ardent Everton fan is married to Muir's daughter, Claire, who recently suffered a broken leg in a fall.

"She was bed-bound for a couple of weeks, because the bone came through the skin and so I'm like Mrs Doubtfire at home, hobbling around. The pair of us, it's a nightmare," added Dwyer.

"I'm going to have to get a double scooter. They say bad luck comes in threes, so I'm worried about Everton going down!"