Welcome back to the winner’s circle Dani!

Champion South Australian reinswoman Dani Hill is back in the harness racing winner’s circle after making a remarkable recovery from life-changing back surgery 12 months ago.

Ongoing pain from back injuries forced Hill onto the sidelines and into surgery in June last year, with a complex procedure to place a spacer, screws, rods and bone grafts to her L5 disc.

“Recovery was a challenge I was willing to take on because life before surgery was exhausting and nothing would ease the pain,” Hill said.

“I remember waking up after surgery and thinking the pain felt very different, it wasn’t nerve pain!” she said.

“The operation has been a tremendous success. I feel like I have better movement now than I did before I even damaged my back.”

Hill’s winning performances sit at around 25 percent of her drives for most of the past decade. Remarkably she has won the past seven SA driver’s premierships, despite an average one surgery a year for the past 14 years due to injuries and wear and tear.

The resilient 39-year-old made a low-key return to race driving last month but looked every bit at home on Claire Goble’s four-year-old trotter Aldebaran Stiles (Aldebaran Eagle) at Port Pirie last Saturday night (July 6).

Hill balanced the square gaiter out of the number five barrier before working forward to the death seat and then finding plenty in the run home to score by nearly six metres.

“It felt good to get the win. I honestly never expected to return to race driving and to be cleared just before 12months post-surgery was a surprise,” Hill said.

“It feels strange and very normal at the same time to be back driving – I think I’m still wrapping my head around it!”

Hill spent time during her layoff working for Harness Racing South Australia as the Welfare and Pathways officer, but is now preparing her own team again, and had expected to be back on the racetrack at the time her own team was ready.

“I no longer work for HRSA, but I am so grateful for the opportunity they gave me. I learnt so much and certainly saw a different side to the industry and participants,” she said.

“I have put so much work into my body since surgery and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s all going. I go to CrossFit six days a week and it’s really my happy place now; my coaches and the people I train with are so wonderful.

“I would do it all again tomorrow if I had to, it’s a very surreal feeling for me now to be so comfortable and not in excruciating pain.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink