Lee Newman aiming to relaunch career after year out with broken neck

Former champion apprentice Lee Newman is set to return to race-riding next month after more than a year out of action with a broken neck.

Newman has started riding trackwork and is looking forward to the latest comeback in his chequered career.

The Scot, who has relaunched himself in Australia in recent years, broke two vertebrae in his back and one in his neck in a fall at Pinjarrah in Western Australia in January 2018.

Luckless Lee Newman injured in fall at Pinjarrah

"I thought I'd be out for just three months but I needed an operation to fuse my neck," he said. "They put a bit of metal in and a bit of my hip bone, so it's certainly strong!

Newman, 37, started riding out again on Tuesday and hopes to return to racing next month.

"My mind and body are good and so is my weight, I'm down to 57kg and have got a few weeks to ride at 55kg," he said.

Lee Newman: now back riding trackworkCredit: Jim Goldie Racing

"My fitness is coming along well. After I rode out for the first time every bit of my body was sore, apart from my neck – which is probably a good sign!"

Newman spent more than five months on the sidelines in 2017 after damaging his spleen and ribs in another fall.

He won the apprentices’ title when with Richard Hannon snr in 2000. After quitting due to weight problems two years later, he returned for another successful stint in the saddle in 2010, only to give up his battle with the scales the following year.

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