Elly Chapple made her return to racing at the Tamworth harness meeting on Thursday afternoon - with the one drive, behind Apollon, in the Garrard's Horse and Hound Pace.
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She finished third, but it felt more like a win for Elly Chapple and her family.
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On the sidelines since March after the young Moonbi reinswoman was being knocked unconscious and sustained a broken elbow in a race fall as the barrier pulled away for the running of the Inverell Cup, Chapple was happy to be back in competition.
"I felt pretty good in the race and I thought we had an all right chance but I just wanted to get around safe and see how it went," she said.
"I am extremely happy to finish third - the little boy (Apollon) looked after me and he did a good job."
After sitting in behind race leader Just Tommy (Sam Ison), Chapple found a split in running on the final turn but had to be content to finish in the minor placings.
Race favourite Just Tommy achieved an all-the-way win with a margin of 3.6 metres over Alliyahs Choice (Madi Young).
Apollon was three metres away in third place.
"When I got my clearance a couple of weeks ago, I started doing some trackwork and then I had a trial last Tuesday.
"And today [Thursday] we are back at the races," Chapple, at year 12 student, said.
"Hopefully I will be right back into it by the next meeting and see how we go from there."
Chapple gave all indications that her elbow had recovered.
"I didn't even think about the elbow - didn't even feel it," she said/.
"A couple of weeks after the accident, I thought I wouldn't drive again.
"But then coming back [from the injury], I was left at home while everyone else went to the races.
"So I got a bit keen then to get back into it."
Just about to turn 18, Chapple shouted herself a new set of race silks for the Tamworth meeting - brown with a pink-sash collar, a brown waistband, white sleeves and pink stars cuffs, with the addition of her initials on the sleeves.
"I designed the colours myself and got them for my birthday. I tried to keep the same as my grandfather's colours [the late Noel Maher] and changed them with a bit of pink and some stars to make them all fancy."
Her mum Julie, her younger brother Jack and her father Dean, who is an established trainer and driver, were all trackside in suppor.
Understandably, they were a little nervous watching her return to racing.
"It was a bit stressful but we have got that drive out of the road now," Dean said.
"And he [Apollon] is a perfect little horse for her.
"Elly even looked a lot more confident than she was before - she did well."