Michelle Payne is ramping up her return to the saddle, but Katelyn Mallyon is still more than a month away from taking the next step in her return from injury.Last season's leading Victorian apprentice had a check-up with her GP today and received a favourable report but will not know where she stands in relation to a possible comeback date for another month.Mallyon had hoped to resume riding in trials early in the new year, but will wait until after meeting her specialist on 16 January before t

Michelle Payne is ramping up her return to the saddle, but Katelyn Mallyon is still more than a month away from taking the next step in her return from injury.

Last season's leading Victorian apprentice had a check-up with her GP today and received a favourable report but will not know where she stands in relation to a possible comeback date for another month.

Mallyon had hoped to resume riding in trials early in the new year, but will wait until after meeting her specialist on 16 January before thinking serious about a return date.

"All is going well but nothing has changed since my last update," Mallyon reported after today's appointment.

"Things are ticking over nicely and I will know more when I see my specialist on the 16th of January."

Mallyon's assessment comes on the same day that Victoria's established leading female rider Michelle Payne took her biggest step towards a return.

Payne, who hasn't ridden since suffering back and head injuries in a fall at Ararat on 12 September, rode trackwork for her brother Patrick at Rockbank, two weeks after successfully completing an extensive neurological test.

"It's just like riding a bike," Payne said on RSN. "I hoped straight back on and it didn't feel any different.

"I'm hoping to be back (riding in races) towards the end of January, start of February. I think that's a realistic goal."

That is around the time another of Victoria's injured jockeys, Chris Symons, hopes to be back riding in races.

Symons, who hasn't ridden since suffering a freak ankle injury when backed into in the carpark at Sale races on the eve of the Spring Racing Carnival, has set himself the goal to be riding trackwork in mid-January with a view to being back riding in races by the Melbourne Festival of Racing. (racingvictoria.net.au)