Cooper looking ahead to riding return Injury-plagued jockey Bryan Cooper is keeping his fingers crossed he will be back in action in around six weeks' time as he begins his rehabilitation from a fractured pelvis. Cooper suffered the injury when he was unseated from Arkwrisht in a beginners' chase at Punchestown on New Year's Eve. The leading rider visited his specialist, Paddy Kenny, at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown on Friday and it was confirmed he would not require surgery. "He (Kenny) said as far as pelvic fractures go it's not the worse of them and I didn't need surgery. I have to go back to him in a month and we'll reassess from there," said Cooper. "He said it would be six to eight weeks (out of action) at the start, obviously I'd like to say six, but we'll see when I go back to him. I basically just have to rest up and keep my body fit and well while I'm off." Cooper has suffered more than his fair share of injuries in recent months and did not initially feel his latest setback was as serious as it transpired. He said: "I got a bad enough kick from a horse coming from behind and I was sore from by upper leg and around my back area. I didn't think it was anything as severe as what was the outcome in the end. "I suppose I was trying to tell myself I was OK, rather than letting myself believe it, because I've had a tough old time, but these things happen and it would have been a lot worse if I wasn't able to walk off the track. "I punctured my lung and lacerated by liver in Galway at the Festival, which kept me out for five or six weeks. I think I was back a month or six weeks and broke my wrist and punctured my lung again in Fairyhouse and that kept me off for another six weeks. "I've been back six weeks again and now this has happened, so it's not ideal, but they're niggling little things and at least it's not a leg break like there was two years ago. As long as I can get up and come back, that's the main thing." Cooper admits the prospect of missing big winners for his employers Gigginstown House Stud is tough to accept. "You can get over the physical pain, you can pump a load of painkillers and sleeping tablets into you, it's more the mental pain you have to deal with," said the jockey. "In the job I'm in I'm going to miss a lot of big winners and big rides, which is very frustrating and that's the toughest part. But I think I've kind of gotten used to it since I broke my leg in Cheltenham. I think I'm able to deal with it better than I did two years ago. "You just have to put it out of your mind and try not to watch racing as much as I can. I'm trying to keep busy and do other things. "Obviously I watch the big races, but I won't watch Thurles on a Thursday. Watching it too much will drive your head mad."
