Group 1-winning jockey Luke Currie to undergo knee surgery, faces six weeks on sidelines
Surgery will halt jockey Luke Currie's impressive recent form.
Currie rode a double for the Hayes brothers at last Saturday's Caulfield meeting to accompany his double at Flemington on May 17 as he built a solid partnership with the Lindsay Park operation.
However, a knee issue sustained in a mishap will force Currie to soon go under the surgeon's knife.
'I've done the meniscus in it at the jumpouts,' Currie said.
'It's been sore all the time and they said, at some point, you've got to get it done.'
The meniscus acts as a 'shock absorbing' cartilage between femur and tibia bones, producing pain and stiffness in the knee when damaged.
Currie said it was the second time he had undergone the minor surgery.
'I did the other one but worse when one flipped over in the gates years ago but they said this one has got a tear in it and had other wear and tear from over the years,' he said.
Currie said he expected to be away from racing for about six weeks.
However, he said the operation was necessary in order to have him ready for the richer period of the year.
'I just thought, I was always staying here getting going again, so it was the right time to have it done so I'll be right for the spring,' Currie said.
Currie has ridden 22 winners in Melbourne in the 2024/25 season.
Currie will join Melbourne jockeys' premiership leader Blake Shinn on the sidelines.
Shinn last week confirmed he would miss the remainder of the season after sustaining heavy bone bruising in an incident at the Cranbourne jumpouts last month.
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ABC News
20 minutes ago
- ABC News
A dubious report on medical abortion was cited in NSW Parliament. Where did it come from?
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The report was authored by the EPPC's director of data analysis, Jamie Bryan Hall, and its president, Ryan T. Anderson. Both men formerly worked for one of Washington's most prominent right-wing think tanks, the Heritage Foundation — which controversially spearheaded Project 2025, sometimes labelled a "blueprint" for US President Donald Trump's second-term agenda. The report claimed that one in 10 patients experience at least one serious adverse event within 45 days following an abortion involving the drug mifepristone. Mifepristone is one of the drugs used in medical abortions in Australia, the US, and other countries. In Australia, the medication misoprostol is also prescribed as a second step. The EPPC report further claimed the rate of serious adverse events after mifepristone abortions was "at least 22 times as high as the summary figure of 'less than 0.5 per cent' in clinical trials reported on the drug label". University of Sydney gynaecology professor Kirsten Black said there were a number of issues with the report. "This study in America was not published in a reputable journal," she said "It's not really clear … where the data came from, how it was analysed. It hasn't been peer-reviewed. "It's misinformation and it's just propaganda," she said. On an FAQ page for the paper, the EPPC said the point of the study wasn't peer review, but replicability. "We have made our study fully replicable for anyone who wants to analyze the insurance claims data," it said, claiming the dataset was available for purchase and the methodology was public. A spokesman for the EPPC refused to disclose the source of the data to ABC NEWS Verify. "There's nothing unique about our dataset — it's effectively all the insurance claims data that exist from 2017 to early 2024, both public and private," he said. Asked about whether this contributed to what the FAQ page called a "replicability crisis" he said the data was clear and it was easy for anybody interested to replicate the study, but didn't address how those seeking to replicate the study would do so without knowing the exact source. Despite these transparency shortcomings, ABC NEWS Verify found at least eight Liberal MPs, a Labor MP, and two independents all cited the report in parliament during the debate. Independent MP Joe McGirr, who is medically trained, highlighted the report in parliament as an example of complication rates of mifepristone abortions, orally citing the report's authors, in a manner similar to how scientific studies are often referenced. "A paper released in April this year by Hall and Anderson cites an analysis of American insurance claims data," he said during his speech. In a statement to ABC NEWS Verify, Dr McGirr said he cited the study "in the context of showing a range of interpreted complication rates from the use of MS-2 Step, with other rates between 3 per cent and 6.6 per cent cited elsewhere." He didn't answer a question on whether he probed the report's methodology before referencing it in parliament. Labor's Greg Donnelly drew attention to the report under the guise of "medical, academic and other literature", without mentioning any of the academic literature, including systematic reviews, published in peer-reviewed journals. Mr Donnelly did not respond to questions from ABC NEWS Verify about why he chose to quote the study. Upper house Liberal MP Susan Carter used the report to suggest "the science is changing" and it "indicated a significantly higher serious adverse event rate from medical abortion than had previously been understood". In an interview, she told ABC NEWS Verify she quoted the study because she found it "really interesting" as it was "the biggest study of its kind". She said it was the first paper she had seen which relied on health insurance records to track a patient's progress after taking the pill. "So you could actually, instead of tracking the procedure, which is what we do in Australia, this was tracking the woman." Professor Black said that serious adverse events following mifepristone "happen in about one in 1,000 cases, two in 1,000, not 10 per cent". Monash University women's health professor Danielle Mazza told ABC NEWS Verify that adverse events following mifepristone in Australia were very rare. She said the EPPC report is "scaremongering by anti-abortionists". Professor Mazza pointed to two systematic reviews that analysed data from several different studies and concluded that mifepristone and misoprostol are highly safe and effective. 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The Australian
33 minutes ago
- The Australian
Ciaron Maher plotting another Group 1 Queensland Oaks upset
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News.com.au
38 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Unexpected chance for Brisbane premiership frontrunner Emily Lang to score biggest career win in Group 2 Fred Best Classic at Doomben
Emily Lang is poised to snatch an incredible slice of riding history and become the first female jockey to claim the Brisbane riding title … and now she has an unexpected shot at her biggest career win. It seems inevitable that history will be created in Brisbane this season with apprentice Lang (57 wins) and Angela Jones (50 wins) leading the city title race ahead of James Orman (45) who is now riding in Hong Kong. Next in the race are Andrew Mallyon and Bailey Wheeler, both with 42 wins. Lang, who is apprenticed to champion trainer Tony Gollan, has enjoyed a breakthrough season and has won a pair of Listed races but never a Group race. She now gets an unforeseen chance to scoop her biggest career win when riding Boomtown Boss for Gollan in the rescheduled $300,000 Group 3 Fred Best Classic at Doomben on Wednesday. Blake Shinn had originally been booked to ride Boomtown Boss in the Fred Best before a foot injury last week ruled him out of the winter carnival. With Lang suspended, Ryan Maloney had been slated to step in to ride Boomtown Boss in the Fred Best at Eagle Farm last Saturday. But the race, which offers the winner a golden ticket into the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap, was been rescheduled to Doomben on Wednesday after the it was among a cluster of races postponed when jockeys opted to stop riding at Eagle Farm last Saturday due to poor visibility. It means Lang can return from suspension and take the prized mount. The duo has previously enjoyed success together including claiming the Listed Daybreak Lover. 'Emily and I are a while away from focusing on riding premierships for her, we will worry about that in July,' Gollan said. 'At the moment, this ride in the Fred Best is a good reward for her. 'Blake was on and Emily was suspended but it's great for her now to put back on the horse in a good race. 'Whether it can springboard her into something else the following weekend or later in the carnival, who knows. 'Whatever the result, I am really happy to have Emily riding this horse in this race, that is for sure.' Boom! ðŸ'¥ Boomtown Boss wins the Listed Daybreak Lover at Eagle Farm, giving @tonygollan his third winner for the day! @emilyyplang | @BrisRacingClub — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 19, 2025 This time last week, Boomtown Boss was a $13 chance to win the Fred Best. But with the race rescheduled and now at Doomben instead of Eagle Farm, he is a $23 chance in latest betting. 'For me, personally, I would prefer this race to be at Eagle Farm rather than Doomben,' Gollan conceded. 'I think this horse would be better at Eagle Farm with the bigger track and more room. 'The race presents a lot differently around Doomben and there's not as much room for error. 'He can have an error or two in the way he races, because he's not a finished product yet. But he's definitely up to the grade.'
