Liverpool jockey Martin Dwyer is set to undergo more surgery again next month as he battles to return to the saddle following a knee injury that has already seen him sidelined for 12 months.
The 47-year-old dual Classic-winning jockey was injured in a fall when riding out for trainer Brian Meehan last March. The Everton FC fan, originally from Norris Green, severely twisted his knee when a leather iron broke and he suffered a torn ACL. Now he is looking at more surgery to rectify the problem.
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Dwyer said: "I'm just waiting for my operation on April 24. The operation is not severe, it is just to take out scar tissue and see what the problem is, because the knee just won't bend. It keeps flaring up. I'm in Oaksey House (rehabilitation centre in Lambourn) doing everything I can, but the injury has just plateaued and we just can't move forward. The original injury, the ligaments, have healed nicely, which is the main thing, but I can't get it to bend and take weight properly."
Dwyer, who won the Oaks on Casual Look in 2003 and the Derby aboard the Marcus Tregoning-trained Sir Percy three years later, has already missed one Group One victory. He is the regular partner of Pyledriver, jointly-trained by his father-in-law Willie Muir and Chris Grassick, who won the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot last July. And despite now being one of the veterans of the weighing room he is not thinking about retirement just yet.
He added: "We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Even if I'm not riding again, even getting back to normal life, I'm going to have to keep going through the same procedure. I've just got to throw the kitchen sink at rehab and get my knee right. Once I have my leg right, I will make decisions from there."
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The keen Evertonian is married to Muir's daughter, Claire, and she also suffered a broken leg in a fall recently. Dwyer said: "She was bed-bound for a couple of weeks, because the bone came through the skin and so I'm like Mrs Doubtfire at home, hobbling around. The pair of us, it's a nightmare. I'm going to have to get a double scooter. They say bad luck comes in threes, so I'm worried about Everton going down!"
