“It seemed OK straight away and when they looked closer they saw I had done a lot of damage to the disc,” Currie said. “The area where it was is quite dangerous but I was quite lucky.

“The main damage was to the disc in between them and it had to be removed. I had to have bone put in and the vertebrae fused because the disc had to come out. You’re really millimetres away from it being a lot worse.”

It is something jockeys live with every time they go on the track and there are plenty of friends Currie would talk to about his recovery in time away from racing.

“I’m friends with Damien Oliver and he spoke to me about his back. He had it fused,” Currie said. “I spoke to Tye Angland [who is a wheelchair after a fall in Hong Kong] and a couple of others who had been in the same sort of situation.

“I felt I was on the lucky side of all those guys. My injury was obviously better than Tye’s. You know how lucky you are not only to be riding again but walking.”

Currie focussed on his return and wanted to be riding the spring carnival and winning. But he couldn’t depend on luck and put in the work to have his body at its peak.

“No success comes without hard work,” was Currie’s mantra. “It is the best season I have had. I have only had 13 group 1 winners in my career, so to have four coming off having six months off with a broken neck is amazing.”

Hey Doc would give Currie his first group 1 of the season in the Manikato Stakes at the Valley and it was followed by Mackinnon Stakes victory with Arcadian Queen during the Flemington carnival. He added the Newmarket Handicap on Zoutori in the autumn.

Only William Pike has ridden more group 1 winners for the season than Currie, who still has a low profile with his only ride at Rosehill on Saturday - Artorius.

“A couple of other jockeys could have ridden him in the Blue Diamond. It’s funny how it works out,” Currie said. “I have always had a bit of luck with the Freedmans as a pinch-hitter. It is just good to be sticking with him because he is so raw and new that he is only going to get better.”

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Currie produced a perfect ride to come from back in the field and Artorius was the strongest through the line as he beat fellow Slipper contenders Ingratiating and Anamoe.

“It took a while for him to balance and flatten properly and then you saw the best of him,” Currie said. “There was a good tempo which really helped him.

“He actually found from the top of the straight and then found another gear when he let down again when he worked it all out. He needs the right luck but if he can get it he will round it off like that [in the Golden Slipper].”

Currie has run thirds in the Golden Slipper on Sunlight and Lyre, and knows that Artorius will be a different ride to both of them.

“Sunlight was a jump-and-go horse, and Lyre was a get-back sprinter. This bloke is a lot stronger than them, he feels like he will be a miler,” Currie said. “What he is doing at the moment is on raw ability. He might be the best of the lot of them.”