Adam Wedge
If you are wondering why you haven’t seen Adam Wedge in a while there’s some good news, although you are still unlikely to see him back in the saddle until October.
When Imperial Measure fell at the first at Ffos Las in October Adam went over his head and landed with his arms out in front of him, dislocating his left shoulder. It wasn’t the first time it had happened so he thought he knew what to expect in terms of time out. He couldn’t have known that it might be the best part of a year.
As you might guess, there has been a setback or two since, but all is well now and Adam is working hard on regaining full fitness, with regular trips to Oaksey House and also our Taunton hub, which is significantly closer for him and provides much the same support in terms of facilities and expertise.
Taking up the story, Adam says: “When I dislocated my shoulder it was the third time I’d done it. They didn’t want to operate at the time so I was rehabbing it at Oaksey House and at Taunton. I was possibly just a week or two from thinking I’d get back to race fitness for the middle of December when unfortunately it slipped out again in physio.
“This time it wasn’t stable enough so I needed surgery, and the IJF got me into the Spire’s Cardiff hospital in the middle of January. I was then expecting to be back race riding in three to four months, but the surgeon found there was a lot of tidying up to do and I was in surgery twice as long as expected. Hopefully it will be better now than it’s ever been.
“I’m well on the road to recovery now and I’ve got plenty of time through the summer to rehab it and make sure it’s stronger than ever. I’m looking to be back riding out in August and I’ll then have a good month or so of that before starting race riding again when the jumps season proper begins.”
Adam, whose finest hour in the saddle came when winning Cheltenham’s Stayers’ Hurdle on Lisnagar Oscar in 2020, hadn’t used the Taunton facility before this latest injury but describes it as “absolutely fantastic”.
He says: “I’m based in Cardiff and I can be there in about an hour and 20 minutes, whereas Oaksey House is two hours plus. I still go to Oaksey House but I’m back and forth to Taunton quite a lot and it’s saving me a lot of time. It’s a great little facility. I can see a physio there and then get stuck in on the weights and so on in the gym. It’s brilliant.
“The IJF has been fantastic throughout and I couldn’t single any one out as they’ve all been great. I definitely wouldn’t have got into the Spire to have my operation when I did without them.”
The vast majority of Adam’s winners, some 348 of them at the last count, have been for Evan Williams. Evan was imprisoned in April, but with wife Cath holding the licence now Adam is hoping it will be business as normal when he resumes, or at least as close to normal as it can be in such difficult circumstances.
Adam says: “I’ve been going in there now and again and keeping tabs on everything, and from what I see and hear it’s all systems go. Cath is more than capable and she has the girls there (daughters Isabel and Eleanor, who are both jockeys), plus a great team in the yard too.”