Injured jockey Kayla Nisbet hopes for mid-January return to the saddle

Nisbet's right foot made contact with a gate ahead of a race in Gundagai last month, breaking the first and second metatarsals.

She underwent surgery after scans revealed the first metatarsal was displaced. The 25-year-old jockey is in a moon-boot and will have further scans on January 3 before deciding when she returns to training.

"I'm lucky because it's not a bone surrounded by muscle so I just have to let the fracture heal then get my fitness back," Nisbet said.

"If [the doctors] are happy with the x-ray then I can't imagine I'd be off for much longer, so I'd probably say the middle of January.

"I can walk around the house without the boot nearly flat-footed now so I think it's healing quite well from what I can tell."

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Nisbet narrowly missed out on claiming the apprentice jockey premiership last season and says the timing of the injury was disheartening.

"It was initially frustrating because I felt like things were going well at the time [of the accident]," Nisbet said.

"I was getting quite a few rides and had started to ride a few winners again, but in saying that it's a nice time of year to have off with Christmas around the corner."

Her father John Nisbet has joined forces with her brother-in-law and fellow jockey Tommy Berry for races three and six at Thoroughbred Park on Sunday's meet.

The Sydney-based jockey rarely gets the chance to ride for Nisbet's stable in Canberra but leaped on the opportunity when their calender's aligned.

Berry will be looking to bounce back from a last-place finish with the Todd Blowes-trained Noble Boy in the Villiers Stakes when he saddles Smart Promise in the maiden handicap (1000 metres).

The four-year-old mare has drawn barrier 12 for her fourth start with the stable, while Haradaspring starts from barrier 17.

"Smart Promise shows a lot more than what she's done in her races for us," John Nisbet said. "Hopefully Tommy might get her out of gates a bit better because then she might run better.

"Haradaspring is a nice mare but she's drawn ordinary. She's improving all the time, we thought she was a bit slow earlier in the piece but she's starting to surprise us."

Berry will also ride the Weston and Nisbet-trained Mad As Zariz in the class one handicap (1000 metres). The five-year-old gelding comes off two podium finishes in his first two starts with the stable.

"He's drawn a terrible barrier so I think he'll need all of Tommy's skill," Nisbet said.

"He's actually a nice, big horse and we've only had him for two runs so we still need to learn a bit about him.

"The Sapphire Coast race was really hard, the horse that won it was pretty good and had it fair and square. He's promising."