It was a rewarding moment for Nicholas, who had contemplated retirement after her last injury, which required several surgeries and a long recuperation period.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a surreal moment because I had a real think about whether or not I was going to come back after the last injury,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try not to dwell on the injuries, but I have had something like seven surgeries on one of my legs, so I am proud that my body has overcome that and is functioning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicholas has utilised expertise from around the world in her rehabilitation, including an instrumental figure from her homeland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work with a guy in the UK, James Adams, who specifically works with jockeys and equestrian riders for fitness, but I have used him for rehab and fitness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is pretty good at getting people back to 100% and he understands the demands of race-day riding.\u201d <\/p>\n
During Nicholas\u2019 time out of the saddle, she worked in other jobs, which gave her a new perspective and love for riding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a couple of different jobs and went over to Aussie to work at the sales,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI approached Hana and Sam Beatson [at Riversley Park] to help them out with cards and I really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked for Newhaven Park in Australia and did a couple of sales for them on the cards. It is really fun because you meet a lot of people and a lot of big trainers in Australia you would never normally meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have to come back riding, there were opportunities to explore other avenues, but I came back because I wanted to and I really missed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That renewed vigour has been reflected in Nicholas\u2019 results, with the 29-year-old hoop having won 12 races to date this season, placing her in third position in the National Jockeys\u2019 Premiership behind injured leader Michael McNab (17) and Opie Bosson (13).<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pinching myself,\u201d Nicholas said.<\/p>\n
She added two wins to her season tally at Te Rapa on Sunday, with the highlight being riding Notabadspillane to win the Norris Ward McKinnon 2200 for her partner, trainer Shaun Phelan, and father Brad Nicholas, who part-owns the 5-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really nice to get the win on Notabadspillane as my Dad has a share in him,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s my first win on a horse Dad has got a share in, so that was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicholas has come a long way since riding in her first point-to-point race in Wales more than a decade ago and she is pleased she made the move to New Zealand and followed the advice of riding mentor Noel Harris to pursue a career in the saddle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started riding back in Wales and I was 18 when I won my first winner in a point-to-point race,\u201d she said. \u201cI rode three point-to-point winners and then I came out here and rode for Paul Nelson over jumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only rode one jumps winner in New Zealand and then Noel Harris said I should get my weight down and ride on the flat because I would make more opportunities for myself as an apprentice than being a jumps jockey, so I followed his advice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicholas is enjoying her time in New Zealand and said it reminds her a lot of her homeland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis country is a little similar to Wales with the countryside,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has better weather, but it has a similar climate and it felt like home away from home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of her 102 wins to date, a couple stand out above the rest for Nicholas.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuliman winning the Taumarunui Gold Cup was quite special because it was for Paul Nelson, who was the first person I worked for in New Zealand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also had a really good partnership with a horse called Hit The Road Jack and I had a few wins on him that were quite special. I think I lost the first part of my claim on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Nicholas said she has two main goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaying injury-free is the main thing,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I would love to win a stakes race, that would be the cherry on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 LOVERACING.NZ News Desk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a rewarding moment for Nicholas, who had contemplated retirement after her last injury, which required several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,24744,24741,1558,22773,8414,24742,71,305,410,14568,15258,12815,685,111,139,24743,69,3512,8145,19255,5257,12633,213,12825,765,2044,102,1530],"class_list":["post-24108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-amount","tag-apprentice","tag-been","tag-comeback","tag-couple","tag-elen","tag-from","tag-have","tag-horror","tag-horse","tag-injury","tag-jockey","tag-last","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nicholas","tag-nz","tag-racing","tag-run","tag-sidelines","tag-significant","tag-spent","tag-sports","tag-stunning","tag-test","tag-time","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}