Jockey Dwayne Dunn’s hopes for a return to the saddle have been put on hold as he is suffering from a brain trauma injury.
Dunn sustained neck fractures when his head slammed into the barriers at Moonee Valley on September 6, 2020.
The Group 1 jockey returned to racing for the first time in the Blue Diamond Stakes on February 20 however has since received more bad news.
Speaking with Racing.com, Dunn provided an update on his health.
“It’s a really weird one. It keeps going backwards, I’m going further backwards than forwards,” Dunn told After The Last.
“It’s taking a lot longer to recover than I thought it would. I keep getting these headaches, they were coming about spasmodically, no sleep, and these migraines were coming.
“Gary Zimmerman sent me to a (neurologist) and we’ve been doing some work down that track. It’s been diagnosed as a brain trauma injury.
“My memory hasn’t been half as good as it should have been. I might have forgotten all those bad rides, along with that I have forgotten the good ones as well.”
The 24-time Group 1 winner is not worried about returning to racing but being able to live a normal life with his family and friends.
“There are other things to life than racing,” he added.
“We live in a bubble and everything revolves around racing which is fantastic when you are in the hot seat.
“There’s a lot of other people that don’t know the races are on and they’re living their lives with enjoyment in other things. It’s about trying to take my focus away from the racetrack at the moment.”