By Glenn Davis
Dual licensee Trinity Bannon will have an involvement as a trainer or jockey with five starters at Mackay on Tuesday and has declared former Victorian Walk The Talk as her best hope.
Bannon, 33, was a former top apprentice winning both apprentices and senior titles as a rider before being forced to switch careers to training following a serious collarbone injury after being kicked by a horse in 2015.
She claimed the Mackay trainers’ premierships in her second and third season after winning three premierships as a rider before getting the urge to ride again last year.
“I won two premierships as an apprentice and one as a senior in Mackay and I’ve also won two premierships as a trainer,” Bannon said.
Bannon was granted a dual license late last year but her riding comeback was stalled when she was badly hurt in a stable accident.
“I got my license to ride again late last year but I hadn’t had a ride when I got kicked in the stomach and severed my liver in two places on New Year’s Eve,” Bannon said.
“I was told I wouldn’t be able to ride again for at least six weeks but I was back riding trackwork after two weeks.”
Bannon, who also is the mother of two young children, has been quick to re-establish herself as a rider with a win and a third from her only two rides since making her riding comeback at Mackay on February 22.
Bannon rates Walk The Talk her best hope in the Class Four Plate (1200m) although she has decided to ride stablemate Tell Everybody.
“I train both and I could have ridden Walk The Talk but I know my strengths and weaknesses,” she said.
“Walk The Talk is a bit lazy and he needs a strong rider so I put Adam Sewell on him and I’ll ride Tell Everybody who also will be competitive.”
Bannon has a good opinion of Walk The Talk who is chasing a hat-trick of wins following two Class Three wins at Bowen and Townsville.
“I couldn’t get him right last preparation and I considered moving him on at one stage,” she said.
“But I gave him another chance and sent him for a decent spell and since he’s been back, he’s had five runs for two wins and three placings.”
Walk The Talk was formerly trained in Victoria before being bought at an on-line auction for $20,000 by Bannon’s biggest client, Chris Thomas.
Racing Queensland webnews March 2