Doing nothing doesn’t sit well with Lisa Allpress, but right now she has no option.
Two weeks after suffering a bad fall just past the winning post on the Riccarton synthetic track, the four-time jockeys’ premiership winner is back home recovering from lower back injuries. That required surgery in Christchurch Hospital, inserting steel rods either side of her spine to aid the mending of a broken L1 vertebra.
Doctor’s orders are to sit tight, do as little as possible for at least the next three months, and all going well she’ll be able to resume her career in early 2025.
“I know it could have been a whole lot worse, a broken back is still a broken back, but I was so lucky that my spinal cord wasn’t damaged. I got the best possible care in Christchurch.
“I was told my surgeon is the absolute best in the business and even though he said I would still mend without surgery, his advice was that to give me the best possible chance of a full recovery – and probably knowing I’m an active sort of person – that was the course they would take.”
Once cleared post-surgery, Allpress was flown by air ambulance to Wanganui Hospital, but she still faced challenges.
“I was concussed in the fall as well, but it wasn’t till I got to Wanganui that I realised the full impact of that. I suppose it was the flight, going from my own room in Christchurch Hospital to a shared room at Wanganui, it all got on top of me.
“I couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, I was vomiting, it was awful, just miserable. Apart from my fall it had been a pretty rough week all round. A few days beforehand Karl (husband) lost his Dad, so there was a whole lot to deal with.
“But I’m so lucky to be surrounded by so many good people – Karl, our boys, my Mum, and a whole lot of other people.”
When RaceForm caught up with 49-year-old Allpress back at her home on the farm she and Karl own in the Fordel district of Wanganui, she was a lot closer to the bubbly person so familiar to the racing community.
However that doesn’t get away from the fact that instead of being confined to barracks, she would have been packing her bags for another trip to Japan to contest the lucrative World All Star Jockeys’ Series at Sapporo racecourse.
“One of my first thoughts after the fall was I wouldn’t be going to Japan, it clearly wasn’t going to happen – a broken back cooks it doesn’t it?” she said. “I was soooo disappointed, my season had got off to a really good start and that week up in Japan riding against all those good jockeys from around the world was so exciting.”
But then a reality check. “One of the first calls I remember getting after the fall was from Catriona and Sam Williams. There they were as always, checking in, wanting to wish me well, tell me they were thinking of me and to sing out if I needed anything – and that I’d be okay.
“I’ve known Catriona since I was a pony club kid, and what she was achieving in showjumping and eventing, I was her number one fan. When they held Horse of the Year at Karaka, I was 16 and my Mum approached Catriona to ask if she would like me to groom for her.
“It was just the most fantastic experience, something I’ll never forget, and that was all down to Catriona. She was lovely, genuinely grateful for me to be helping her.”
The friendship forged then has been everlasting, and Allpress is one of thousands who remember the anguish when, in 2002, life changed forever for the equestrian with her eyes on the 2004 Tokyo Olympics.
The spinal cord injuries suffered by Williams in that cross-country fall have meant life since in a wheelchair, with so many unfulfilled dreams. More importantly, however, her life has also been inspirational, manifested by founding the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust and raising millions for spinal cord research.
Allpress has made her own contribution to those fund-raising efforts, guest-speaking at CatWalk events and being continually inspired by her idol’s approach to life.
“That call from Catriona and Sam, it was humbling, it meant so much and it made me realise that I shouldn’t be feeling too sorry for myself, and that I was lucky.”
Challenges remain for Allpress, some of them professional, others domestic, but she can see an end-game.
“Our older son Josh is due back from his Uni studies at Lincoln – he was coming home anyway to run the farm while Karl and I were in Japan – but it will still be good to have him here to help Karl.
“This time of year we’re flat out rearing calves – 200 of them – so Karl will enjoy having an extra hand. I’m stuck inside for now, mobile enough but not allowed to push it for a while.
“Hopefully it won’t be too long before Karl has someone who at least can open gates for him, potter around in the Polaris, do some of the small jobs.”
In the race immediately before her Riccarton fall, Allpress had taken her new season tally to five wins from just 13 rides. While any fleeting thoughts of a fifth premiership have been erased, she has a goal that in her eyes is well within reach.
With a tally of 1,948 wins in New Zealand – not to mention another 82 offshore – she has just 52 left to become the first female jockey to make 2,000.
“I was the first female to ride 1,000 wins in New Zealand and I want to be the first to reach 2,000,” she says in a revival of that person we all know as “determined Lisa”.
