Trots Centre: A J finds reason to Smile amid setback

There have been plenty of moments to remember amid a year to forget for A J Tindale and she hopes to add a few more positive notes at Terang tonight.

With partner Beau, Tindale will take three to Dalvue Raceway tonight, including Smile Lyle (pictured), optimistic of building on a good recent run that’s included a string of placings and competitive showings by their Berringa stable.

That success has been produced despite A J suffering a horrible injury, which she described when she joined host Jason Bonnington this morning on Trots Life, a new show on SENTrack that will air from 11am-1pm weekdays.

“I was gearing up All Starzzz Megan and she kicked me and she actually kicked me so hard that my leg split open and you could see the bone,” Tindale told Trots Life.

“It wasn’t nice. We got all that stitched up and that was all good, and then three months later it actually opened up again and I had an infection in the bone from that injury. Spent a week in hospital and poor Beau was left to man the fort.”

While A J’s back on the mend, she also has to remain vigilant.

“It’s dormant now,” she told Trots Life. “It’s like a volcano, you’ve always got to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t come back. I did have a lot of nerve damage from the initial injury, so that’s probably why the infection went unnoticed for so long, because I couldn’t feel any pain.

“It’s all good at the moment, though I am starting to get the nerve feeling back, so I’m getting a few sensations here and there, but otherwise we’re back.”

It’s a cautionary tale of the perils of being a trainer, but it hasn’t dimmed A J’s passion for the sport, which was evident when she forecast her stables chances at Terang tonight.

The Tindales have both Rosarito Miss (gate 2) and Smile Lyle (gate 6) in the South West Conveyancing Pace, which streams at 9.19pm on Trots Vision, and then Metro Man in the following race, the Dalvue Motel Terang Pace.

Rosarito Miss follows on from a disappointing sixth at Ararat last start, but A J said a line could be put through that run.

“We might have been a little bit easy on her between runs, but also having said that, she is a funny filly, we have driven her that way before and she sort of went the same way,” she said.

“It was a very quick lead time, the winner was a very smart horse on the night. I think we just scratch last week. I expect her to be competitive tonight.”

She starts inside stablemate Smile Lyle, who has a second start for her new camp after running second at Ararat on Friday.

“We actually broke the horse in years ago and had him for his first start. We love him, he’s a great horse.

“He was really good last week, we were so pleased with him. First time racing at that track (Ararat) as well and handled it really good. We were so proud of him to run second.

“I think he should be thereabouts tonight. The draw’s horrible and there are some better ones drawn inside us obviously, but Terang’s great racing. We elected to back them up tonight at Terang because the racing’s always so genuine there. Genuine tempo, lots of moves and everyone gets a chance. You never know what can happen.”

And then it’s over to Metro Man in the seventh at 9.50pm on Trots Vision.

“He’s a lovely old horse,” Tindale said. “We like getting the older horses and rejuvenating them and giving them a new lease on life. He’s a horse who’s always shown a lot of promise throughout his career and he’s really started to adapt to our training methods.

“We really like him, we were rapt with his run last week. He’s pretty versatile, he can come out of the gate if he wants to or he’s very fast late. He’ll be one to watch tonight I think.”

CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW:

TALKING TROTS ON SENTRACK:

Join Jason Bonnington from 11am-1pm each day for Trots Life on SENTrack, which airs on 1593AM in Melbourne, 89.1FM in Muldura, 1539AM in Sydney, 1053AM in Brisbane, 1620AM on the Gold Coast, 657AM in Perth, 801AM in Gosford, 96.9FM in Ingham, 99.1FM in Atherton and 1575AM in Wollongong.

Click here to listen live and for links to download the SEN app.