Last season's leading harness racing driver in NSW, Lauren Panella will make her long awaited comeback from injury on October 23.
The 22-year old met with her doctors today and has been told she can return to the sport she loves in six weeks time.
Panella suffered serious injuries to her hand after falling from her sulky on June 13 and is already counting the days to her first drive back.
"I'll be working as hard as I can physically and mentally to ensure I'm ready to go on October 23, the doctors are confident that I will be fully recovered to resume," Panella said.
"Coincidently it is Shane's (Tritton) birthday on October 24 so it might be the best birthday present I can give him, I've really missed the sport for the past couple of months and it has been very hard watching all of the racing from the sidelines."
Despite missing the last two and a half months of the season Panella still won the NSW Drivers' Premiership by 34 wins and although she will have missed the first two months of the new season is still a chance to defend her title.
The biggest hurdle for Panella to overcome in chasing the early leaders down will be the decision by her fiance Shane Tritton to reduce the size of his team.
After training a team of up to 80 horses during last season, Tritton has confirmed he will be aiming to reduce his stable to 40 horses and will look to concentrate on targeting the better races in Australasia.
Panella is set to return to drive a stable that is full of talent including Mach Beauty, Suave Stuey Lombo, Salty Robyn, Lombo Kotakinabalu, Katy Perry, Easy On The Eye, Mychachingchaching and Yayas Hot Spot.
Panella has raced to 567 victories and a further 520 placings in her career from just 2020 drives.
Greg Hayes