January 14, 2009 12:00am

THERE was no fairytale return for jockey Paul Falvey, but he is just grateful the dream is still alive.

Lying in his hospital bed staring at the ceiling, wearing a stiff collar brace supporting his broken neck after a race fall, Falvey had given up hope of continuing his horse racing career.

But seven years on, after being told he may never walk again let alone ride a horse, the successful provincial jockey was back riding at Cessnock yesterday. Falvey, 43, finished second last aboard Finestra in a $9000 maiden, his only ride for the day.

He battled in the straight and only passed one runner, but it was the first step in his journey that he hopes will culminate in claiming an elusive Group One winner.

"I was a bit nervous before the race, there were plenty of butterflies but the closer I got to the race the more excited I became," he said. "I have always wanted to ride a Group One winner, I have placed in a couple but I'd really like to crack a big one."

The Kiwi had not ridden in a race since he fell from Poetic Nijinski at the Jungle Juice Cup meeting at Cessnock in July 2002.

Falvey broke his C7 vertebrae and was told his career as a jockey was over. He was devastated. He had just started a family and had to endure six months of rehabilitation.

Once cleared by doctors to return home, Falvey decided to become a landscape gardener.

"I always wanted to be a jockey, even after the fall," he said. "Riding in races is what I love to do. I kept all my gear . . . my old saddle and everything, hoping that one day I'd be cleared to return.

"I never thought it would happen, I was hoping more than anything."

Falvey had been suffering from back pain during his work landscaping, but the pain eased when he was laid off months before Christmas and he decided to have his neck X-rayed.

"The doctor said it was 100 per cent and that I would be in no more danger than anyone else if I was to go back riding again," he said.

"I was on a single parent pension, looking after my five-year-old son who is going to school this year, so I thought I'd have more time on my hands and give it another shot."

Falvey has been riding trackwork at Broadmeadow racecourse for two months and has competed in two sets of barrier trials.

"The body feels 110 per cent," he said. "It has taken a little while to get my timing back but I feel great, probably just lacking race fitness, but that will only come with getting out there and back into things.

"I'm ready to rip and tear, I think I've got another ten years of riding left in me."

MELBOURNE jockey Mark Zahra will be sidelined for at least three months after sustaining multiple fractures to his pelvis in a dramatic trackwork fall yesterday.

Zahra was taken by ambulance to Royal Melbourne hospital yesterday morning after his mount backflipped at Flemington, pinning the unfortunate jockey to the ground.