After being sidelined from harness racing with serious injury for six weeks, Shepparton reinswoman Donna Castles got back to business in the best way possible – registering a winning double at her first meeting back at Echuca on Sunday.

And she couldn’t have scripted it better with the first win at her first drive back, and the second behind Mussel Shoals, the horse she was driving when she was injured on March 11.

“I was so happy to win on the mare that I crashed on – I actually thought she could win that night at Shepparton when I got tipped out, but things just didn’t work out!” she said.

“It all felt like it was in slow motion, but we were on the back row, and I saw John (Newberry) gallop in front of us and thought ‘ohhhh we’re in trouble’ – but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”

Castles suffered several hairline rib fractures as well as a lumbar four fracture in the fall, but wasted no time getting back in the sulky when she received her medical clearance.

“I felt pretty much at home right from the start. I’d been driving at home a bit and went to the trials at Kyabram that morning,” Castles said.

“When I got hurt, the trouble happened in the score-up and not in the run, and once you’re back in the gig the job takes over. But I have to admit it was good to get the monkey off my back straight away!”

And Castles left nothing to chance in her comeback. She zoomed to the front in both of her winning drives: Olly Odd Potts for trainer Sharon Hahne in race two, then following up in race eight on Mussel Shoals which she trains herself.

“With that first win I just drove straight off the arm and led, and no one could annoy us. But pretty much as I went across the line I thought, thank goodness that’s over!” she laughed.

She then repeated the all-the-way tactic with Mussel Shoals, scoring a comfortable five-metre win, her third from 27 starts.

The popular Castles is one of the driving forces behind Shepparton’s Pacing for Pink fundraiser for the McGrath Foundation, which is coming up on Sunday, May 4.

It headlines harness racing’s national Pacing for Pink month, which last year raised an incredible $150,000 for the McGrath Foundation.

“It was looking a bit shaky there for a bit, but I was definitely always making sure I was back for Pacing for Pink,” Castles said.

Find out more about Pacing for Pink and the Shepparton May 4 meeting here.

Find out more about the McGrath Foundation and how to support Pacing for Pink here.