By Jonny Turner<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just like riding a bike.<\/p>\n
That is the approach Nathan Williamson is taking to the resumption of his driving career at Gore on Thursday.<\/p>\n
After passing all of his medical tests with flying colours, Williamson was back at the workouts last week for the first time since his shocking spill at Alexandra Park in December.<\/p>\n
From the sidelines, it looked like the leading southern trainer-driver had barely been out of the cart.<\/p>\n
Williamson confirmed that it very much felt that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, it was great just to be out there doing it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the only thing was I wasn\u2019t using my own helmet, which felt a bit different, but as far as everything else went it was pretty much just another day at the workouts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson has eight drives confirmed for the Wyndham Harness Racing Club\u2019s meeting at Gore on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The reinsman wasn\u2019t keen on a full book for his return and is happy with what he is calling a manageable number.<\/p>\n
While there is plenty of chatter among his peers and harness racing fans about his return, including some commentary on how quickly he is making it back from such a serious incident, Williamson himself is taking a low-key approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of interest in Thursday and it has been pretty humbling all of the messages and support we have had all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been feeling really good and really, I am just focusing on getting out there and getting back into it without getting too caught up in the build-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the medical people I\u2019ve been dealing with have all told me these things affect everyone differently<\/p>\n
\u201cThings were serious in the beginning, but I am lucky that I haven\u2019t had the issues that many people have to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am hoping that once we get underway on Thursday it will be just another day at the races and I can\u2019t see why it won\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a touch of irony about who Williamson rates his best winning chance on Thursday.<\/p>\n
While he has been sidelined, brother Matthew has taken the reins behind Always Dreaming and the pair will be out to continue their great combination.<\/p>\n
With race fitness on his side, the pacer looks as good as any winning chance from Williamson\u2019s strong team of six.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been going great and he\u2019s had the racing, whereas most of my ones at Gore are having their first runs back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got good manners, he\u2019s going well and he should run a nice race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson is using the same logic when assessing the best hope among the horses he is driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cRise Up N Dance has been in good form and he\u2019s freshened up nicely since his last run at Cromwell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a nice team in and I expect them to run well, but he is one that\u2019s had racing and should be right there from his good draw.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson takes two outside drives on Thursday, both for the Brett Gray stable.<\/p>\n
The driver\u2019s last win came in Gray\u2019s colours with Flashpoint at Wingatui on December 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jonny Turner It\u2019s just like riding a bike. That is the approach Nathan Williamson is taking to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-335952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335952","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=335952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}