Top Canberra jockey Brendan Ward is back in the saddle riding trackwork after a serious fall left him with a broken neck and he plans to return to racing at Canberra's Thoroughbred Park on December 14.
Ward got the all clear from his neurosurgeon and doctor on Monday and was back at work at 4.30am the following day.
It will give him four full weeks of trackwork to get himself "match fit" for a return to the rigours of racing.
The self-confessed fitness fanatic will also use kickboxing, cycling and running to ensure he's in top shape for his comeback.
"The neck's going good, it's all healed up 100 per cent. The neurosurgeon said, 'continue life as normal'," Ward said.
"I started [trackwork] Tuesday morning as soon as I got the all clear from the doctor.
"I thought, 'Give myself three to four weeks of trackwork' and I'm looking to come back on December 14, which is a Canberra meeting on the Sunday."
Ward fractured his C2 vertebra in a three-horse fall at Wagga Wagga on August 22, which included fellow Canberra jockey Carly Frater, and he was subsequently flown to Sydney's St George Hospital as a precaution.
The 41-year-old hoop said the accident had left him dazed and he could not remember standing up afterwards, thinking he had simply laid down after the fall. But he does remember the pain and he subsequently spent three weeks in a neck brace and it was almost three months before he could return to the saddle.
"I was semi unconscious, maybe for a minute or two, because I originally thought I laid still, but people did say to me I got up and I was leaning over the running rail and that's when the pain set in all over my body, so I laid down," he said.
"It was my neck and all over my body. I don't know if a horse clipped me or what happened there, but I had a lot of pain."
Ward, a jockey for 26 years, has won the Canberra premiership four of the past five seasons.
The fall was his first serious injury since he broke his ankle 11 years ago. He had no concerns about returning to riding.
Ward said it had been a tough year for racing, which saw two female apprentice jockeys die in two days last month and two horses die following the Melbourne Cup.
He felt the nature of the sport meant there would always be accidents, but he felt apprentices could get more training before being allowed to ride in races.
"It seems it has been apprentices of late that have been either seriously injured or killed," Ward said.
"Maybe put a bit more emphasis onto apprentice schools … at the moment they have 20 barrier trials before they get their ticket to ride in races.
"I think that side should probably be reviewed and have more barrier trials."
