Odds are unlikely that he returns to his former self but he couldn't be looked after by a better horseman could he?

'Dual Cox Plate winner Northerly had a leisurely workout at Pinjarra at his first visit to a racetrack since suffering a tendon injury in July.

Trainer Fred Kersley said the injury was healing well but it was too soon to tell whether the champion would make a return to the top level and he would not be rushing him.

"It (the injury) is healing pretty much as we would hope," Kersley said on ABC radio.

"But it's an injury that does take its own time and we allow about twelve months and that puts it in the time frame of about July before we think that it would be completely healed.

"But by the look of the injury at the minute and the feel of it, the way the horse is acting, it does look as though it's going pretty well.

"It is good news, but it's important for people to remember it's very early days yet.

"You can always be very hopeful of course but you're certainly not confident about it.

"But we're doing what we hope is the right thing by giving him these light bouts of exercise and periods of rest so that the leg can regain its former strength.

"I've really got to counsel the public not to get too much ahead of the game because we've really got no guarantees about him becoming the racehorse that he was." '