Premier rider Justin Stanley on comeback trail

Multiple premiership winning rider Justin Stanley may be only a month away from returning to race riding.

The popular 45-year-old jockey hasn’t ridden in a race since he injured his shoulder at Ipswich eight months ago. At the time of the setback, Stanley had the most riding wins for the 2024/25 season of any jockey in all of Queensland.

Stanley said he is really pleased with the recovery of the injured shoulder, albeit longer than he would have hoped.

“I’m very happy, and I am really keen to be back at the races, but I’ve learned to take recovery steady, and I will give myself another month or so before I take rides,” Stanley said.

One of racing’s great survivors, Stanley always bounces back. A couple of decades ago he almost lost his life in a horror fall on the Gold Coast. He suffered a fractured skull, a broken jaw in two places, broken collarbone, broken right knee and torn ligaments. He was sidelined for years after that. In 2021 another track incident led to a full reconstruction of his left knee. In the years in between and that followed there have been other injuries that have also kept him away from racing.

Last year, at Ipswich, he dislocated his shoulder, which didn’t initially seem too severe, but his doctor said the shoulder required surgery, and then lots of time to heal.

Stanley is now back riding trackwork at Deagon with his shoulder getting stronger by the day. He is now confident that he’s progressing towards a long-awaited race return.

“It will happen and I can’t wait to get back to Rocky and ride winners, so thanks for checking in on me, I will be seeing you soon,” Stanley said.

RJC CEO, David Aldred.