'It's the one injury I wouldn't want again' - Josh Moore targets spring return

Josh Moore hopes to be back in the saddle in the early spring as he recovers from the major spinal surgery he had on the serious injuries suffered in a fall at Plumpton last month.

The 29-year-old jockey sustained a fractured vertebra and broke several ribs, as well as being knocked unconscious, at the East Sussex track on October 18 then had to wait eight days in Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton before having a six-hour operation to insert metal rods into his back.

Moore has been back at home since late October and has a routine scan later this week, as well as an appointment with his surgeon later in the month to get a clearer picture of when he could return.

The rider is eager to be back in action well before the Cheltenham Festival in March.

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"I'm waiting for the surgeon to give me an outlook and timescale, but roughly in my head, I'm hoping to be back for late winter or early spring – it would be nice to be back for then," he said.

"I'm missing a lot at the minute, and big rides, but hopefully I've still got some of the best parts of the jumps season left to come back to. I've just started a bit of gentle rehab at Sir Peter O'Sullevan House this week and hopefully it's all starting to go in the right way.

"All the surgery is done with, all being well. I'm not doing much at the minute but hopefully over the next month we'll start picking things up a bit."

Josh Moore: will miss most of the winter and the gruelling ground conditionsCredit: Edward Whitaker

Moore has endured a luckless run with injuries in recent years and only returned to action in August following a lengthy spell out with concussion before his latest setback, which he ranks as the worst injury he has suffered.

"I've had a lot of injuries and it's definitely the one injury I wouldn't want again out of them. It was the most invasive procedure I've had done and the one my body knew about the most," he added.

"Luckily I didn't have to wear a brace on the outside. The fixation was done internally, so all the metal is inside me and everything was stabilised. It's still quite sore as it was a big operation, but each week it's getting better."

The multiple delays to his operation proved challenging for Moore – which came just two weeks after he ran the London Marathon – and his family, but he understood other patients needed emergency treatment more urgently.

Moore said: "On six days it was cancelled because of emergencies, but I had to be objective about it and realise there were people in worse situations.

"As much as it was frustrating because every day was another delay in recovery, I realised everything was in hand and I would get repaired. I just had to be patient with it and try not to be too down."

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a three-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday