An exasperating run of injuries has marred Mark Zahra's career over the past couple of years but he's hoping to put that behind him this spring, starting on Wednesday at Sandown where he has three mounts including the promising Offenders.Zahra has been back for three-and-a-half weeks since being sidelined with a slipped disc for seven weeks.He has had two provincial wins aboard the Mike Moroney-trained Sophrosyne since returning to race riding on August 8.Zahra's manager Reece Murphy said the jo

An exasperating run of injuries has marred Mark Zahra's career over the past couple of years but he's hoping to put that behind him this spring, starting on Wednesday at Sandown where he has three mounts including the promising Offenders.

Zahra has been back for three-and-a-half weeks since being sidelined with a slipped disc for seven weeks.

He has had two provincial wins aboard the Mike Moroney-trained Sophrosyne since returning to race riding on August 8.

Zahra's manager Reece Murphy said the jockey was riding trackwork for the Peter Snowden, Moroney and Jim Conlan stables and was working on getting his weight down from 54kg or 55kg to 53kg for the spring.

"Mark has had some pretty horrific injuries but he's working hard and hoping some good opportunities open up for him over the spring," Murphy said.

The jockey suffered a fractured pelvis in a trackwork accident at Flemington in January when his mount reared and sent him airborne before landing on him.

On Melbourne Cup day in 2007 he suffered a broken wrist and ankle when his mount Bay Story snapped a back leg in the closing stages of The Lavazza Long Black and had to be put down.

Zahra recovered well from those injuries and won two Group One races in 2008, the Coolmore Classic at Rosehill aboard the Moroney-trained Eskimo Queen and the TJ Smith Classic at Eagle Farm aboard Rockdale for trainer John Morrisey.

The Snowden stable gave him his previous metropolitan winner when Kidnapped won at Flemington on June 6 and gives him another opportunity for a city success with Offenders who is chasing his fourth straight win when he resumes in the El Golea Hcp (1300m).

The Canny Lad gelding was rated by Melbourne foreman Paul Snowden as one of the stable's more promising horses when he impressed with a 2-1/4-length win from Awimoweh over 1400m at Flemington on April 18.

"It's only time with him. He's a good doer at home but he's a lightly-framed horse and it's just taken him a long time to build into that frame," he said.

"Hopefully it will pay dividends."

Zahra will also ride Guru Bob in the Beau Sovereign Hcp (1000m) for co-trainers Lee and Shannon Hope and Redondo Beach in the Betfair Hcp (1800m) for Moroney.