Gigginstown House Stud number one retained rider Jack Kennedy has made a swift recovery from his broken collarbone and will be back on track at Clonmel on Thursday just 18 days after it was announced he had suffered the fracture.
The 21 year old rider fractured his left collarbone for a third time following a fall from Etincelle Lioterie in a novice hurdle at Limerick on October 11th and it was thought he would miss both meetings at Down Royal this weekend which sees the first Grade One of the season.
However, it has been reported that due to two trips to ice chambers where temperatures dropped to 110 degrees below freezing have massively helped with the recovery for Kennedy and he will in fact be back to ride Delta Work on Saturday in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase.
(Credit Racing Post) The jockey said: "I was with my specialist Paddy Kenny this morning and he was 100 per cent happy for me to return, so I will be back at Clonmel on Thursday where I have two rides."
The rider has landed 22 Grade One wins during his short career and although missing out on over half the season with another injury last year he is hoping he can get back in the winners enclosure as soon as possible.
🥊 Delta Work vs Kemboy vs Presenting Percy - three warriors, one fine finish
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) February 2, 2020
Delta Work wins the Irish Gold Cup for @gelliott_racing & @jackkennedy15 at @LeopardstownRC
🏆 Grade One Savills Chase
🏆 Grade One Irish Gold Cup
✅ Double completed... next stop Cheltenham pic.twitter.com/tEX89HE7vy
He added: "It's been hard work, but it's easy having the mental strength to go through the pain barrier when you have the horses I have to look forward to. It's an incredible team.
"I was down in Ennis to do two stints of cryotherapy in Brian Enright's ice chambers. It's minus 110 degrees in there. You have to go in three times and each stint lasts for four minutes. The way I looked at it was that I didn't have to stay in there all day. It was only 12 minutes in total and it wasn't going to kill me.
"The first four-minute stint is not too bad actually, you think it's going to be worse. The second time is tougher and the third time is not easy. But I would have done anything in my power to get back for Down Royal. I was using [jockeys' agent] Gary Cribbin's ice baths as well. They were one degree."
Speaking about his latest injury, Kennedy said: "It wasn't the sorest thing in the world when it happened. I've broken it twice before so I knew what it feels like. I knew it was fractured straight away but I knew it wasn't badly fractured. I knew is wasn't displaced or anything like that. It was very straightforward really."