3rd year apprentice Denis Schwarz, known as “DW” to family and friends, has his first 3 race rides back from injury at Scottsville on Thursday 3 August. Schwarz has been off race riding for 6 months since he fell, galloping a juvenile filly on the 29th of January, where he tore ligaments in his right knee.

Schwarz is quite pragmatic about the injury, saying “accidents and injuries happen in all sports, whether you’re a professional rugby player or jockey, injuries are part of the game and you need to accept them, recover properly from them and comeback stronger than you were before!”

The road to recovery for this young apprentice has been a long one, initially he was in a plaster cast for 6 weeks, followed by a brace and crutches for another 6 weeks. After this, Schwarz started working with the Biokineticist and Sport Scientist at the South African Jockey Academy, for another 3 months to fully recover and return to race riding.

Schwarz is also very philosophical about the injury and recovery process saying “it has taught me to be patient, I had just ridden 26 winners when the injury happened and was going for a hat trick of wins on the filly “DRESSED FOR SUCCESS” trained by Mr Lafferty. Naturally I was upset as I knew I was going to be off riding for a long time, which meant I wouldn’t achieve the goals I had set myself. I had to accept, deal with and overcome this setback. I focused on my recovery and worked hard to regain my fitness, endurance and strength. I’ve reassessed my goals for last season and have set myself revised goals for the new season!”

Schwarz has also used the time off to focus on his academics and finished top of his Matric class in the 2nd Term. This young apprentice is still as passionate as ever about horseracing and seems more determined than ever to be successful. It shouldn’t be long until he rides his first winner back from injury.