GRAND NATIONAL hero Davy Russell has made an amazing recovery from an injury that would have left ’90 per cent of people in a wheelchair’.
Russell, 41, needed bolts drilled into his head after falling at the first in last October’s Munster National at Limerick.
They jockey fractured his back in two places, dislocated it in another, had to be put in traction and wore a neck brace for two months.
It would have been enough to take most people off their feet for life, he was told by doctors.
But on Tuesday he hopped into the saddle again and is now targeting a spectacular return to action at March’s Cheltenham Festival.
The only issue now? Well, something all of us can relate to: shifting those lockdown pounds.
Russell said: “I was certainly happy to be back out and there were no dramas.
“It’s exciting to be honest, but I still haven’t set a target to be back – I need to go back to the doctor and go through all that.
“The toughest part is still ahead of me really, I need to get fit and lose some weight! Getting race-fit is the most important thing, but hopefully I can crack on now.”
Quizzed on where he could return, Russell said: “Cheltenham would be a strong possibility.
“I really don’t think I’d need to be back before. I could start in the Supreme Novices’ if I needed to. I won’t be doing that hopefully, and I won’t have to do that.
“The honest answer is I don’t know if I’ll be back before it but it doesn’t really bother me. As long as everything is going OK.
“If it were only my second or third festival it might be a worry but to be honest it doesn’t really bother me if I’m back before or not.
“Now at the same time, I’ll be pushing to get back beforehand as it’s always nice to see how fit you are.
“But we’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Speaking about his rehab – which at times sounded like a form of torture – Russell told the Irish Times last year: “They drilled bolts into my head and hung a weight off my head to stretch it so the T1 would go back into place.
“Every hour they would take an X-ray and add more weight. I was telling them ‘lads this is wrong, I’m in woeful pain.’
“They were asking where and I was saying the groin and hip area. They said once it’s not your neck, you’re fine.”
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