By Chris Roots
Josh Parr was riding winners at a similar rate to the Bowmans, McDonalds and Shinns a couple of years ago – but he was doing it in pain. Agonising pain.
In fact, getting off a winner was the worst part of the experience as his hip joint and femur ground together. He didn't feel comfortable in the saddle but it was better than getting out of it.
Pain free: Josh Parr is looking to take his comeback to the next level.Credit: bradleyphotos.com.au
Parr was compensating for pain and it was affecting him, so he took the decision to have a hip impingement procedure and take his longest break away from horses, away from races, since he started his career.
"I had a procedure to fix up some torn cartilage in my labrum and they reshaped the femur bone to fit into the joint much better," Parr said. "It wasn't planned, in the end I just had to do it. It got that bad.
"I had put up with the pain for a long time. When I squatted down into the stirrup iron there was a little bit of pain in the movement.
"But trying to take my foot out of the stirrup iron was agony. It was like someone was driving a knife straight into my hip."
Remarkably Parr was still making the most of limited opportunities but the quality of life was not there.
"It had started to affect me and I started to change my stirrup iron, the placement of foot in the iron. I was just doing things that were never going to fix the problem. They were band-aid solutions," he said.
"It is progressively becoming a problem for jockeys. I spoke with a professor at St George hospital about it and he mentioned it is an alarming problem.
"I personally think it is from riding very short [in the irons] and riding on your tippy-toes and the amount of riding we do. It takes a toll on your body.
"I had to do something and I am glad I did."
The surgery could become a regular feature of jockeys' careers and, as a pain-free Parr has shown, it can take your riding to another level.
He gave his Sydney riding counterparts two months start this season, he had a couple of winners in September, but has still managed to get into the top five jockeys in Australia's toughest riding school.
It is a long way from when Parr had to watch racing, unable to ride, for the first half of 2016. However, it has become time he cherished.
"It is the best period of my life that time I had off, because obviously I got the problem fixed. I also got to spend the first few months of [my daughter] Bonnie's life with her," Parr said.
For a jockey with two group 1s to his credit, who had always been a Sydney jockey, the driver was there to come back but he knew he had to do it right.
When he started back in July last year, he sat down with manager John Walter and decided to ride the country tracks and not try to come back to the city.
That would come in time, but he needed to get the feel back of being in the saddle. Riding winners and be allowed to make mistakes.
"Get back and ride in as many races as I can was what we discussed and the winners will come," Parr said. "I know I can ride but you have to do things like this right.
"I just needed to get back riding and get in good form. I wanted to limit the mistakes that I would make when the bigger opportunities come in Sydney. It worked really well."
Parr has always been around good horses. He worked for Gai Waterhouse and Darley during his apprenticeship and was trusted with their better types. He admits it sharpened his sense for a good horse.
"I can't look at a horse and say that's a good horse but put me on it and I will tell you exactly what its ability is and I'm not often wrong," Parr said.
He has a long been a regular in Sydney but he has always been fourth or fifth call for owners and trainers. That is changing.
His name is thrown up when the better rides are available and with the Golden Slipper around the corner he has the rides on Chauffeur and Menari for Gerald Ryan.
He gets on Menari in the Canonbury Stakes on Saturday and it has already given him the indication that he could be of Golden Slipper quality.
"I rode him in a trial and he was very good and then he showed that on race day a couple of weeks ago. It is another step on Saturday but he is up to it," Parr said.
"The battle has already been to get on a horse early on that is showing potential and staying on it. I am starting to get those chances, I just have to make the most of it.
"There is a bit of a changing of the guard in Sydney at the moment and there is massive opportunity for me if I can take it.
"It is the best I have felt for a long time. There is no pain.
"It is showing in my riding and hopefully I can convert that into winning big races during the carnival."
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