By BARRY STREET
Tony Allan is fully focussed on how best he can resurrect his career after serving one of the longest suspensions handed down to a New Zealand jockey in recent years.
The 34-year-old from Matamata fell foul of Singapore-Malaysian racing authorities in 1999 and, despite a strong defence and excellent testimonials from this country, was outed for 12 months for not riding a horse on its merits.
Yesterday, though, Allan was not moaning that he had been hard done by. Nor did he seem the least bitter.
"My year is up next Tuesday," he said, "and I'm fresh, fit and keen for a comeback at Rotorua the following day.
"One thing the suspension did for me was give my batteries time to recharge after a hectic 15 years of racing.
"In those 15 years I never once had the chance to enjoy a Christmas or New Year with my family.
"This year I did, and it was great.
"So now I feel as though my year on the sideline could have been a blessing in disguise.
"A mid-career break if you like. My body needed it.
"I reckon I can now go another 10 or 12 years as a jockey without a hitch, barring accidents or injuries."
Allan said he would rather have been suspended than injured for 12 months.
The fact that only his pride was wounded allowed him to keep active and keep his weight down.
General stud work at The Oaks in Cambridge gave him a different slant on life. While there he also spent plenty of time in a saddle, exercising young horses in pre-training.
Consequently, no crash dieting will be necessary to regain his riding weight of a year ago.
"In fact," he said, "I expect to be a kilo or two lighter than usual - between 50.5 and 51kg."
Allan is only one or two short of having ridden 850 winners, 11 at group one level, including the 1989 Melbourne Cup and Mackinnon Stakes on Empire Rose. He aims is to join the ten ton club by the end of next season.
His immediate goal is to ride 50 or 60 winners this season.
"I'm thinking positive, and all I need is support from owners and trainers."
From tomorrow another class act in a saddle will become a familiar figure again at New Zealand race meetings.
Darryl Bradley, the premiership winner two seasons back, has quit the Singapore-Malaysia circuit after four months, during which he rode 17 winners.
He resumes tomorrow at the Hawkes Bay races at Hastings.
Racing: Long year nearly at an end
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