Katelyn Mallyon found herself in an unfortunate position following her season-ending fall in May.The star apprentice was desperate to retain an advantage in the race for the Victorian Metropolitan Apprentice Jockeys' Premiership, but she also wanted to see her boyfriend do well.The tricky bit was, that boyfriend is Jake Noonan who emerged as the biggest threat in her quest to become the first female to win Victoria's top award for apprentice riders.The flourishing finish to the racing year by No

Katelyn Mallyon found herself in an unfortunate position following her season-ending fall in May.

The star apprentice was desperate to retain an advantage in the race for the Victorian Metropolitan Apprentice Jockeys' Premiership, but she also wanted to see her boyfriend do well.

The tricky bit was, that boyfriend is Jake Noonan who emerged as the biggest threat in her quest to become the first female to win Victoria's top award for apprentice riders.

The flourishing finish to the racing year by Noonan, who won last year's metro apprentices' title, kept Mallyon on edge until the final weekend of the season.

But a winless final weekend by Noonan paved the way for Mallyon to score. She finished the season with 23 city wins, five clear of Noonan with Jake Duffy one further victory away in third spot.

It was a historic result with Mallyon etching her name alongside legendary apprentices Geoff Lane, Darren Gauci and Damien Oliver as just some of the names on the apprentices' honour roll.

"It was a bit hard to look on while I was out, but I just tried not to think about it too much," Mallyon said.

"It feels good to have won it. It's a big achievement being the first female to win it."

It was the first leg of a premiership double for Mallyon, whose 58 Victorian winners afforded her a nine-win advantage over Noonan in the statewide jockeys' premiership.

But simply winning the metro premiership was not Mallyon's biggest achievement. Doing so after missing the final two-and-a-half months of the season added to the effort.

Late autumn and winter, when the riding elite are either interstate or on holidays, is the time of the season that trainers are most likely to put claiming riders on in town.

Mallyon missed the final 21 metro meetings of the season and while that denied her the chance to add to her city tally, she is looking at it positively.

"I missed winter, when my claim probably would have come in handy, but on a positive note, when I come back to riding I'll still have a two-kilo claim," she said. "That's how I'm looking at it."

That comeback may happen sooner than originally thought following the 18-year-old's fall from Deliver The Dream at Flemington on 19 May, when she suffered severe concussion, a fractured cheekbone and lacerated spleen among other injuries.

Mallyon was in a coma for a week, spent several ensuing weeks in a brace and was house-bound for a couple of months, but was last week given approval to increase the intensity of her rehabilitation.

"I went to the doctor's the other day and he gave me the all clear to start exercising and doing a lot more stuff," she said.

"The last week or so has been pretty good. I've been going to the gym and doing things that I haven't been able to do like run and swim.

"It has been hard not being able to do anything, but when I got the brace off I started doing a little bit more and things started to feel better."

Mallyon hopes to sit on a horse for the first time since the fall in a couple of weeks. The reason for the delay is a couple of trips overseas.

On Monday she accompanied Noonan to Macau and next week is heading to Bali for a few days.

"When I come back from holidays I'll get stuck back into trackwork and trials and work my way back up," she said. "I'll work my way up from jumpouts to trials and then try and get back into race riding.

"I don't want to rush back, I want to take it easy and slowly go through my trials and get my eye back in for it, but I'd like to say I'll maybe be back mid-October.

"I wouldn't be as far away as what I originally thought, anyway."

But before that she is excited about what seeing what Macau has to offer. Noonan is Australia's representative in the Asian Young Guns Challenge, which brings together the best young riders from Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Macau.

Mallyon might not be riding in the series, but she will experience many of the benefits.

"I've never been overseas before, so it will be a good experience," she said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing their style of racing (in Macau). It's so much different to Australian racing, so it will be good to see that.

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