'I do miss it' - Lucy Alexander on her battle to return from horror injury

Next week, the 31-year-old will undergo surgery for the removal of rods inserted into her back last autumn to stabilise the injury. Had the bone healed already, she would then start fitness work aimed at getting her back in the saddle as quickly as possible.

"You're hoping that, by increasing the load, it stimulates the bone and speeds up the healing, that's the idea," explains Alexander, who was champion conditional in 2013. Referring to the sport's chief medical officer, she continues: "Jerry Hill said it'll be a few months of further rehab and loading the vertebra before they then rescan and tell you where you're at.

"I think a lot of people imagine that, when you take the metal out, then you're good to go. In this case, it's going to take a bit longer.

"Obviously, it's been frustrating but I've just got to appreciate that I'm lucky, that essentially I'm fine. Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be on to the last leg of the whole thing.

"I haven't been able to do what I've done for the last ten or so years, so it's been a big change. I do miss it. We schooled a load of horses this morning, nice novice hurdlers and novice chasers and I do miss it, there's no question about that, but it could have been a lot worse.

"Hopefully, one way or another, things will work out. If it had happened a few years ago, I don't think I'd have handled it very well. I think maybe getting a bit older helps."

Alexander's injury was sustained in a fall at Newcastle last November, when she was in front and going well aboard Chanting Hill until the mare put her front feet in the top of the fifth-last. A horse following behind is reckoned to have done the damage.

Two things have dominated her year: helping her father, Nick, at his Fife stable and travelling to the Injured Jockeys Fund's Jack Berry House in Malton, where she has stayed for weeks at a time, using the expertise of its staff and its variety of equipment to keep fit and promote recovery of the bone. Road-running, for example, would not be advisable with such an injury but at JBH she has been able to run in the hydropool.

"We pack plenty of stuff in," Alexander said in the summer, at a time when she hoped the end was in sight. "You don't really want for anything there, it's a great facility and the people are brilliant.

"The IJF team are always at the end of the phone as well, so it's very easy. The physical side is one part of it but mentally, it's great to feel that you're in the right hands and everyone's absolutely trying their best for you and that, whatever the outcome, there's no more that really anyone could have done."

In other news, the amazing Kruzhlinin won a handicap hurdle on Limerick's Munster National card yesterday, his second racecourse success since he turned 14 years old. It was all the more remarkable because he hadn't raced over hurdles for five years. He has now been retired.

Kruzhlinin: retired at the age of 14 after winning at Limerick on SundayCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Last month, I argued for an age limit for jumps racehorses, prompted by the fact that he was declared to run that day, which generated a certain amount of heat from people who were annoyed on behalf of his connections. I did try to make it clear that my concerns, though triggered by his name on a racecard, weren't particularly about him.

If all racehorses were like Kruzhlinin, there wouldn't be much of a case to be made for an age limit. I'd argue he is an exception, but that debate can wait for another day. Congratulations to all concerned!

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